Draco Malfoy and the Dark Lord's Wrath
by frojoe44
Summary: An epic drama story and an alternate version of Book 5. Voldemort has just returned and Draco is caught up in the dark lord's plans to bring the wizarding world under his rule. Will he work with the death eaters as Voldemort and his unloving father want him too? Or will he forge a new path for himself with the Order of the Phoenix? Rated T for violence and sex in future chapters.
1. A Day in the Life of Draco

I was lying down alone on my bed up in my room in the Malfoy Manor this morning still terribly sore and bruised from the beating I took last night. I looked down at his arms and saw the familiar cuts and scars on my arms that I had given with my knife and made myself endure daily. Nobody knew about my real lifestyle, not even Crabbe, Goyle, or Pansy. None of them knew how I longed for someone that I could call my real friend and not just some brainless sidekick that I knew deep down didn't really care for me one way or the other. And none of them knew that I had made a habit of cutting myself to try get the pain I was feeling inside out of me. The cutting never helped though. I might try to get the pain I was feeling out of me but it always came back even stronger after my self-inflicted cuts had healed.

Ever since the three people who pretended to be my friends, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy, had all moved back home for the summer I had completely lost touch with them. They never bothered to write to me. Why should they when they didn't really consider themselves my friends anyway. I knew it was probably better that I didn't hear from them but I had to admit, a small part of me did miss them. Without them, I can't even pretend to myself that I had any real friends at Hogwarts. Those three never were true friends of course, and I knew and that they only pretended to be to stay on my father's good side, but sometimes thanks to their companionship, I was able to pretend they really cared about me and I was able to keep my feelings of friendlessness at bay.

As I thought about my so called friends desire to stay on my father's good side, my mind wandered over to my father. I knew that Lucius fully expected me to take his place as Voldemort's right hand man and wanted me to get the dark mark and start serving him before this year ended. My father had told me that Voldemort desperately needed a presence inside Hogwarts to keep an eye on what Professor Dumbledore was doing to try to thwart the death eater's plans. More importantly, my father had recently told me that Voldemort needed someone inside Hogwarts to put a permanent end to Harry Potter so that the death eaters could get rid of the hope that Harry brought to the wizarding world for a brighter future without Voldemort. Ever since Voldemort made his return to the wizarding world he had been trying with a vengeance to destroy Harry Potter, Dumbledore, and the order of the phoenix to ensure no one would be able to stand against him.

So far though, Voldemort's plans had all been thwarted by the Order of the Phoenix. Unfortunately, that just made him even more determined to rout the order of the phoenix and gain control over the wizarding world. Deep down inside me I wanted nothing more than to oppose Voldemort with all my heart and soul and to run off to tell Dumbledore I wanted to join the order of the phoenix. But a more logical part of me knew if I refused to obey Voldemort and carry out the plans he had for me I'd just be beaten again by my father for embarrassing him in front of Voldemort and probably put under the Crutiatus Curse until I finally agreed to obey. I was constantly conflicted between my fear of my father and Voldemort and my desire to break away from them and be my own person and fight against them. The only place I knew that I could safely be honest about my feelings was my diary.

In its pages, were things I wish I had had the courage to do, things I wish I could have said, what I honestly thought about my father, the people I knew at school and the situation I found myself in with Voldemort and my father. I knew that it would be a huge embarrassment to my father if anyone found out I kept a diary, and let's just say I had learned early on in life that it was best not to embarrass my father. That's why as soon I got my diary I bewitched its cover to look like a book teaching its readers how to perform the unforgivable curses. So the secret that I kept a diary was safe so long as nobody bothered to try to read the book I kept that looked like it was about the unforgivable curses.

I wondered from my bed over to my diary on my desk. My cuts and bruises inflicted by my father caused even this short walk to be painful but I made it to the desk and sat down on my chair. I began to flip through its pages. I turned to entry from my first year at Hogwarts. The entry reminded me that during my first year I had hoped to make some real friends instead of just some sidekicks that would only follow me because of my father's standing with the dark lord. It also reminded me that my father forced me not to befriend anyone he did not approve of by threatening to beat and curse me if dared to stray away from his expectations of me.

Several of my other diary entries detailed my feelings toward three particular people, Harry Potter and his two best friends. I had confessed to my diary that I had always admired Harry Potter and his friends and would have liked nothing better than to call a truce from the constant fighting between me and him and befriend him as I had always wanted to. My diary also was the only thing in the world that knew my true feelings about my father. In many of my entries, I had poured out my heart to my diary telling it all about how I resented my father for forcing me to be enemies with them just because Harry had defeated Voldemort once as a baby and now Lucius was terrified that if his son befriended Voldemort's greatest enemy, it may cause Voldemort and the death eaters to think he was conspiring against them. I had plenty of entries in my diary about my admiration for those three and how deep down one of my greatest wishes to befriend them and become the fourth member of the golden trio.

All this emotional turmoil within me has caused me to hate my life right now. Once again my thoughts turned to the possibility of suicide. That was something I thought about a lot lately. I couldn't really think of anyone who would miss me. On the contrary, I could only think of people who would be happy that I was gone. Harry and his friends for one. They would probably be overjoyed to be rid of their longtime enemy. My father was another one that came to mind. He would probably not be sad to see me go either. With me gone he would have one less thing to worry about and he would not have to concern himself with the possibility that I would rebel against him and Voldemort. For years now I have been searching for something or someone to give my life meaning and after all this time my hope of finding something is slowly dying out. I know if I don't find something meaningful soon I won't be able to live much longer.

Right now the only future I can see for myself is being forced to be a death eater like my father which would mean living my live as a murderer. The only other plausible option that I can see is to kill myself before that happens. The only thing that has kept me from killing myself already is my desperate hope that I will someday find a way to break free of my father and live my life as I want to.

I flipped to the most recent page of the diary which contained the entry I had put in just last night. I remember the entry word for word but I read it again anyway. The entry had been written with a shaky hand from the pain my father had inflicted on me and teardrops had fallen upon the pages last night as I wrote it.

Dear diary, it read

Today I have been beaten twice by my father and I'm pretty sure they were both because he was upset over something else and took out his anger on me. I wish I could have someone, ANYONE, who understands how my life is right now. When I first went away to school I really thought my cutting days might be over. What an idiot I was to think that. Now, several years later, going into my next year at Hogwarts I've made no true friends. Instead I've only alienated people with my constant bullying of them and the only thing I've got to show for it are several more deep scars on my arms. I really need to find someone to talk to about this.

I begin to cry after I finish reading this entry, and reach for my knife again. I need to get this pain outside of me. I slide my knife over my forearms and let the blood pool on my arms and let it slide down onto the floor. I also let my tears run down my face and fall to the floor to mix with my blood as I think about my possible future.

"DRACO!" The shout from downstairs startled me out of my thoughts. "Draco!" my father called again. "Get down here. It's time for us to go."

I groaned in dismay. I had almost forgotten that today, the yearly quidditch world cup was happening and before the match began my father had a certain errand to go on. I had not the foggiest idea what sort of errand he was talking about or why he insisted so strongly that I accompany him but I had learned better than to go against my father's wishes.

I pulled on some clothes and covered up my arms to hide the cuts on them, and washed my face so that my father wouldn't see I had been crying. He would only take tears as a sign of weakness and scold me for it.

By the time I got downstairs to him I looked presentable again and I had my typical emotionless expression on my face. I was always too afraid to show any real emotion in front of my father for fear that my true feelings toward my father would come out and I would be punished for speaking against him.

My father was waiting for me by the fireplace. As soon as I made my way over to him he threw floo powder into the fireplace and stepped inside and roughly pulled me in after him. "Theodore Notte's Manor!" he shouted and my heart skipped a beat. I knew exactly who Theodore Nott was and if there was any place in the world I did not want to be going to, it was his house. After Voldemort's return, the Nott family had been one of the first death eater families to rally back to his cause. Voldemort had taken up residents inside Nott's manor and had been using it as a makeshift headquarters since his return during my fourth year of school.

There was only one reason my father would be taking us to Nott's place, and that was to confer with Voldemort himself about something. I felt incredibly nauseous as the floo powder took me closer and closer to the one place I did not want to be and the nausea wasn't because I was being spun around mercilessly by the floo powder either.

I sadly resigned myself to the fact that I was about to come face to face with lord Voldemort and there was nothing I could do about it.

End of chapter one

A/N: Hey guys. Let me know what you think of my first chapter by dropping me a review. Because more reviews motivate me to update a lot quicker.


	2. The Dark Lord's Plan

The floo network spit me out in the middle of an enormous living room furnished with the most extravagant furniture, flooring and wallpaper I had ever seen. I always knew that my own home, the Malfoy manor, had been one of the more beautiful homes in the wizarding world, but this, this was just breathtaking. The woodwork that had gone into creating the end tables, cabinets and closets were so intricate and beautiful it seemed as though they could not have been accomplished by any means other than magic. I went up to the furnishings for a closer inspection but I was jarred out of my curiosity about them when my father came out of the fireplace behind me. He grabbed me roughly by the shoulder and looked at me as though he were disgusted that I would be so awed by the house we had arrived in. "C'mon Draco we have someone to see."

Oh yes, I remembered the reason for our being here now, our meeting with Lord Voldemort. The beauty of the home we were in had momentarily drawn my attention away from it. "Lucius. Late as usual I see," came a gruff voice from the other end of the room. My dread returned all at once as I contemplated what might lay before me once I met the dark lord. "Tsk Tsk. The dark lord will not be pleased." I turned and saw that the voice belonged to Theodore Nott. Theodore may not have been as imposing as he once was, but he still stood an impressive six and a half feet tall and looked more than capable of knocking a man down with or without magic. His once jet black hair had begun to turn gray in spots.

My father was not pleased to see him. He sneered at Theodore. "I would have gotten here sooner if somebody had gotten their ass in gear when I told them too." My father said. He shot me a glare and I groaned to myself. I knew I would probably pay for that later. At least I was safe from him for the time being though; I don't think he would beat me in front of the dark lord. "Just take me to him Nott."

"As you wish Lord Malfoy." My father held a position of authority over most death eaters. He was Lord Voldemort's right hand man and took orders only from him which made him the direct superior over most other death eaters. Nott led us through the enormous maze that was his house and every step of the way the knot in my stomach, forming out of my nervousness of coming face to face with the dark lord for the first time, became so tight it was nearly unbearable. We went through the mansion until we came up to an extremely large double door that we stopped in front of. "We're here." Nott said. My father pushed his way past Nott and threw open the double doors.

On the other side of the door, there were rows upon rows of sitting figures that turned to face us when at the sound of the door opening. I knew at once they were all death eaters by the masks they were all wearing that made their faces look like skulls. The few who were not wearing their masks were the highest ranking death eaters. All of them were seated at the very end of the room looking at us from across the long rows of tables that the death eaters were sitting at. And sitting just beyond the high ranking death eaters was the dark lord himself. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of him.

His green skin had been pulled so tightly over his body that it looked like it could tear at the slightest pull. His face seemed to have no nose. Only two little slits where his nostrils should have been. And above that were his eyes. His eyes were like none I had ever seen before. They were entirely bright red and they seemed to have no pupils in them at all. The bright red eyes bore down on me for the first time. Lord Voldemort was just trying to get a good look at me I told myself. It took every last bit of courage I had to gaze back across the room into those horrible looking red eyes, but somehow I managed to do it without flinching or breaking off the eye contact before Voldemort did. His eyes shifted to next to me to look at my father now.

"Ahh Lucius," Voldemort said. His voice resonated off the walls of the room causing everyone's attention to turn back to him immediately. "I'm pleased you're finally here. Come we've saved you and your child two seats up front." My father immediately began making his way up between the rows of tables toward the dark lord but my legs seemed to have been frozen by the fear that the dark lord's presence inflicted on me. I couldn't move until Theodore gave me a rough push in my back to make one of my legs shoot out instinctively to keep me from falling. After that my other leg seemed to follow of its own accord and then I was walking slowly but steadily toward the front of the room and the dark lord.

I could feel the weight of the death eater's stares on me as I made my way past them. I could tell they were all sizing me up. Trying to tell what I would be capable of. For the moment though I did not care about them, I had eyes only for lord Voldemort. I tried to seem unafraid as I made my way toward him despite the fact that my whole body seemed to want to turn and flee of its own accord. I knew if I gave into that urge something much more horrible than a beating at the hands of my father would be in store for me very soon. Finally, I had made my way to my seat and sat down in the seat right next to my father's. I was grateful that my long walk toward it was over.

When I sat the death eaters attention slowly turned back to lord Voldemort. "Now that we are finally all here, let us begin." He started, in his deep voice. He turned to my father. "Lucius, have you done as I asked since last time we spoke?"

"I have my lord. The necessary arrangements have been made and I have placed the portkeys you requested into the homes of the death eaters you told me to. Those portkeys will transport our death eaters to the world cup when they are activated." Voldemort smiled, revealing his horrible, black and crooked looking teeth. I wondered what he had asked my father to do.

"Well done Lucius, I knew you would succeed." Voldemort said. He stood up in front of the death eaters and raised his voice. "My death eaters," He said. "It is past time that we put the wizarding world on notice that we are not a force to be taken lightly. Up until now our plans have been thwarted by the ministry of magic and that wretched Dumbledore and his damned order of the phoenix. Well no more! Tonight at the quidditch world cup, we will establish ourselves as a force to be reckoned with!" The death eaters cheered at this. Draco knew that many of them had not been pleased at all with the recent failures they had met with and they would welcome the chance to strike at the wizarding world in an attempt to establish themselves as a legitimate threat to the relative peace of the wizarding world as they had been before Harry Potter had defeated Voldemort as a baby. I tried to look as excited as the other death eaters as I waited for Voldemort to continue.

"Our dear Lucius Malfoy, at my command, has placed portkeys inside the homes of several of our death eaters." Voldemort went on. "Tonight, after the quidditch world cup has ended, we will be activating those portkeys and use them to arrive at the cup. Our numbers will be more than sufficient to overwhelm the security the ministry will place at the world cup. Once we have routed the security, we will move onto the civilians who are there to attend the cup. Once we find ourselves among the civilians, our main objective is to wreak havoc and inspire terror. Kill and maim any and all who stand in front of you! For anyone who would resist my will deserves no better fate than a muggle or mudblood deserves!"

The death eaters roared their applauses at Lord Voldemort's plan and I could see bloodlust already starting to take hold of many of them. Again, I tried to do as they did, but this time it was no use. Even if I may be punished for it later, I could not make myself get up and cheer for this plan. I had known that Lord Voldemort would be planning something horrible for the world cup, but this? This was nothing but massacre. He wasn't even targeting his real enemies: The ministry of magic and the order of the phoenix. Instead, his goal was to scare and kill innocent people. As far as I was concerned, this wasn't even warfare, now Voldemort had crossed the line and had become a common terrorist. I could feel the blood rushing out of my face as I sat and contemplated what I now knew was to be the fate of thousands of people. I already felt incredibly sorry for them and their families.

Voldemort silenced the cheering death eaters with a wave of his arm. "I know that many of you have done this in the past when you attacked the world cup last year when the Bulgarians played the Irish. I also knew that nothing worthwhile came of that attack. This time the result will be different because I will be fighting alongside you. Together nothing will stop us from doing as we please with every civilian we see." After Voldemort was done announcing he would be participating in the attack, he let the death eaters cheer again while he conferred with another one of the high ranking death eaters.

A few minutes passed before Voldemort spoke again. When he was done speaking to the death eater beside him, he turned back to the crowd of cheering men in front of him. "There is one final piece of information I must give you all." Voldemort said. "Thanks to the efforts of Theodore Nott, I have been able to use our spies at the ministry to arrange for Arthur Weasely, a ministry employeeand a damed blood traitor, to win tickets to the quidditch world cup. I am positive that when Weasely goes to the cup, Harry Potter himself will be along with him. If any of you can land a killing blow on Potter, that death eater will rewarded with ten thousand Galleons. More than enough to be set for life. And as long as were on the subject, I would like to thank Lucius Malfoy for offering those galleons as a reward for killing Potter."

I looked at my father in shock as the death eaters cheered once more. I knew we were one of the more wealthy families in the wizarding world, but ten thousand galleons? We did not have that much to spare. Did my father for some insane reason mean to give away the Malfoy fortune to some death eater? And if he did how in the world would he explain how our family went broke to the public?

It quickly dawned on me though that these questions were unimportant for now. I had much more important things to consider. If Potter and his friends truly were going to show up to the quidditch world cup I had to do something to ensure their safety. That much was clear to me but as to how to do that I was absolutely at a loss. I couldn't just stop them from coming to the world cup, and I couldn't warn them ahead of time, even if I could find a way to talk to them they would only assume I was lying to them to scare them.

As I desperately tried to think of a plan to help Potter and his friends, my thoughts were interrupted by Voldemort. "Death eaters, you are all to report to the houses you have been assigned to go to tonight when the world cup starts. When it is over we shall wait until the civilians have made their way back to their tents for the night. Lucius Malfoy and his son will be on the scene at the quidditch world cup and will signal me when the cup is ripe for attacking. When I receive their signal we shall all activate our portkeys and arrive at the cup simultaneously. At that point, we will unleash hell on the wizarding world!" The death eaters cheered loudest at this. They were all eager to get to the cup and have their way with the poor innocent people there.

"Does anybody have a question about the plan as I have explained it to you?" Voldemort asked.

For a moment nobody spoke. I made up my mind that somebody had to challenge Voldemort on this plan. Too many people's lives would be cut short if the death eaters went through with the plan as it was and if no one else was going to do what needed to be done then I supposed it would have to be me. I knew I would suffer severely for this, but if it might save thousands of lives I was willing to suffer to save them.

I was about to rise from my chair and speak when one brave soul stood up from his table and turned toward the dark lord. "My lord," he said. I sat back down for the moment. "I can't help but feel that this plan to cause all this bloodshed is unnecessary. It doesn't seem likely that we will accomplish anything worthwhile by doing this. Shouldn't we direct our efforts toward something more constructive than unneeded slaughter? Perhaps an assault on the ministry or on the order of the phoenix would be a better plan." I was ready to applaud this man and stand up to agree with him. Just before I did however, the man's earsplitting shriek assaulted my ears.

A jet of green light was flying out of Voldemort's wand and hitting the man squarely in the chest. After several seconds, the shriek stopped and the man slumped to the floor as the killing curse finished its job. "Perhaps that will teach the rest of you not to question me in the future." Voldemort stated. I had been shocked into silence by Voldemort's cruelty and my legs refused to obey me when I instructed them to rise up and challenge Voldemort's plan. "All right you all have your orders," Voldemort said. "I'll see you tonight at the world cup." With that, he got up and left. The death eaters in the room began to disperse after he left spoke giddily with each other about what was to come tonight.

My father got up and grabbed me by the arm and marched us over to the fireplace. He threw the remainder of his floo powder into it and we went inside the fire place. "Malfoy Manor." My father said. Then we were spinning at lightning speed as we quickly made our way back to our own home. I was barely aware of any of that though. My mind was still whirling from what I had learned from Voldemort just now and I was desperately trying to plan a way to save Potter and his friends.

Once we were back in our home, my father said, "Alright so now our plans for the quidditch world cup tonight." He studied my face for a moment as though trying to read my expression to see what I thought of the plan. I carefully kept my face blank so it would not betray my emotions. After another moment my father spoke again. "I'll expect you to participate in the assault on the cup tonight. After the match ends and I send the signal to Voldemort for him to attack, you will put this on over your clothes." He waved his wand and a split second later, a death eater robe and mask in my size appeared at my feet.

This was not something I had expected, and my father expecting me to march with the death eaters tonight my stomach fall all over again. "B-But, I'm not a death eater." I stammered.

"Not yet, but I've persuaded the dark lord to give you your dark mark soon. Soon you will be one of us Draco." Again, he paused to study my face to try to read my expression. This time I forced a smile onto my face did my best to act pleased with the news to please him though all the while I wanted nothing more than to lash out at him and curse him for ruining my life.

After another moment he stopped studying me. "Well you'd best get some rest before the world cup tonight. You'll need it." I hurried off upstairs to my bedroom, just grateful to be away from my father and in a place where I could finally let my emotions show on my face. But of course there was nobody I had in my life I could safely speak my mind to. So as I always did when I found myself in a spot like this I marched over to the desk in my room, yanked open the top drawer and took out my diary.

Diary, I wrote.

What am I supposed to do now? Voldemort and my father both expect me to march into the quidditch world cup and just slaughter innocent people? How could my father do this to me? Fathers are supposed to nurture their children. Not raise them to be cold blooded killers. I wish more than anything right now I could just trade him in fir someone else. ANYONE else! It's not possible that anyone could be a worse father to me than him. I suppose I can't just wish him away though. I have to face the facts here. Tonight I'll be expected to do everything in my power to kill Harry Potter. That's not something I'm willing to do. I have too much respect and admiration for Potter and his friends to murder them. Maybe I won't be able to protect all of the innocent civilians at the cup, but I can certainly do my best to protect those three of them. So what I have to do is simple then. I'll just have to locate Potter and his friends the instant the attack begins and stick to them like a shadow until they reach safety. No matter what happens I'll curse, hex or jinx every single dam death eater I see coming to close to them. It will certainly mean the death of me if I'm caught, but if it means I will have died doing something worthwhile, I can deal with that.

Until next time,

Draco.

I put the diary back into its drawer and went over to my bed to try to get some rest as my father said. I would certainly need it tonight if I was going to be an effective shield for Potter and his friends.

I tried for hours to fall asleep but the knot in my stomach wouldn't let me. I was much too nervous over what might happen tonight to fall asleep and with every minute that the quidditch world cup crept closer, the knot only grew tighter.

Before long my father was calling to me from downstairs to get down there. It was time to go to the cup and I hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. I cursed at that, but I pulled myself out of my bed nevertheless and grabbed my wand off my desk and my broomstick out of my closet. I t was going to be a very interesting night.

END OF CHAPTER TWO

Author's note: Hey guys. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, I'll upload chapter three as quick as I can. In the meantime though, please review for me and let me know what you think so far.


	3. Battle at the Cup

Chapter three: Battle at the quidditch world cup

Shortly after my father called me down I found myself following him out our door and flying on a broomstick toward the woods behind our home. Flying was one of things I got to do that made me feel truly happy. To me, there was no greater freedom than being up in air on my broom free to go anywhere I wanted whenever I wanted. This time though, flying did not bring me any joy. I looked over and saw the reason flying beside me. My father looked back at me from his broomstick and shouted at me over the wind that filled my ears and caressed my face. "We'll be flying this way until we reach a muggle town several miles away. After that the minister's letter said that the portkey we're looking for is an old broomstick in the middle of a small field."

I nodded back to him and thought back on the events that had led to this situation. I remembered that several weeks ago my father had received a letter by owl post from the minister of magic Cornelius Fudge. The letter had invited the two of us to attend the quidditch world cup free of charge and watch it from inside the minister's own personal spectator's box. My father of course had accepted almost immediately, knowing it could be a great opportunity for the death eaters to strike against the wizarding public. Of course, not until this morning did I realize exactly how he and Voldemort had planned to execute their attack. Nor had I realized until this morning that Potter and his friends would be the primary targets of the attack and that I would be perhaps the only person trying to defend them against hundreds of skilled death eaters out to kill them. I pushed these thoughts out of my mind. I knew if I let myself dwell for too long on the hopelessness of my quest to save Potter and his friends, I may lose my nerve and not attempt to save him at all.

Instead, I tried to concentrate on the feelings of freedom I got from flying thousands of feet above the ground where I felt as though my worries could not reach me. No matter how hard I tried though, my mind stubbornly returned to ordeal I was preparing myself to go through tonight. Eventually, I gave up on the idea of calming myself and instead reviewed all the curses, jinxes and hexes I had learned from my time at Hogwarts. I considered which of those spells might work best against the death eaters I'd be casting at tonight.

In what seemed no time at all, the woods below us broke off and I could see the muggle town my father told me about coming up in the distance. When we got to the edge of the town, we landed just out of sight of the town's people and quickly used magic to send our brooms back to the manor. "Come." My father said sharply as though I was just a dog following its master.

As we walked through the town, we attracted a lot of attention because of the long wizard robes we wore. None of them bothered to approach us though. Probably for the best I told myself. My father was not known for his fondness of muggles. As we were walking, I absentmindedly observed the usual business of these muggles, who I had been taught to hate, but truly had nothing against.

I reminded myself of the Weasley family. Just like them, I couldn't help but admire the muggles for finding so many ways to be as efficient as they were without magic. Their cars and traffic lights and other electronics were impressive enough to me, but when I looked over at my father he was looking straight ahead as if the accomplishments of the muggles unworthy of his notice. I turned my attention back to the muggles and began looking at the strange buildings and electronic signs flashing at me. I couldn't help but wonder what all these buildings were for and what importance the signs had to the muggle world. I felt so curious about how all this technology worked and how the muggles could possibly learn to operate all of it.

My father must have noticed the look of wonder on my face as I observed the muggle world because he jerked my attention off the muggles by elbowing my in the side and giving me a dirty look as punishment for acknowledging the existence of muggle intelligence. I kept my head down for the rest of our walk.

Soon he led me to a path leading toward the woods on the other side of the town. We followed the path for quite a while until my father suddenly stopped at the edge of a clearing and looked around for something. "There it is, come on." My eyes followed his finger and saw that he was pointing at an old broomstick in the middle of the clearing. I realized we had arrived at the portkey to take us to the cup. My breath caught in my throat as I was again reminded of the danger I would be placing myself in by trying to use myself as a shield for Potter and his friends tonight. My father looked around to ensure the muggles were far enough away so they wouldn't notice us leaving via the portkey.

"Now." My father said. Our hands shot out to grab hold of the broomstick. Right away, I felt a tug at the inside of my stomach as if the portkey were pulling me toward it. A split second later, I felt as though I was flying through the air at a great height and an even greater speed. I was being whipped around by the strong winds and would have immediately been separated from the portkey if there had not been some sort of enchantment on the broom to keep my hand attached to it.

As quickly as the wild ride had started, it ended. The portkey landed us in the middle of a vast clearing in a forest. The enchantments keeping me attached to the portkey ceased to operate and I fell to the ground completely disoriented after the turbulent ride. My father seemed to be suffering none of these side effects though, and he quickly came over to me and roughly brought me to my feet. After a moment I regained my bearings and I began to hear the sound of distant people talking. "Come on." My father said impatiently. And we began walking toward the sound of voices.

I saw a long line of people standing before the entrance to an enormous campground filled with tents that were seemingly large enough to house entire families quite comfortably. I knew right away that all these people were staying here to see world cup tonight. Next to those tents I could see kids gathered around each other playing a game of exploding snap with each other and laughing every time someone got hit by the explosion. Looking upward toward the sky I could see kids around my age flying above the campsite on their broomsticks without a care in the world. I wished I could have been one of them as I followed my father toward the line of people.

When we reached the line I automatically stopped at the back of it and began to wait for it to move forward. I still had my eyes trained on the various going-ons inside the campsite so it took me a minute to realize that when I had stopped at back of the line, my father had kept walking right past all the people waiting in it. Surprised, I got back out of the line and hurried to catch up to him wondering what he thought he was doing.

We caught the attention of several people who we were passing right away. "Hey mister what do you think you're doing!" One of the men we passed yelled at us. "Me and my kids have been waiting here for hours to get into the campsite!" I could tell he was going to say more to us but just then my father turned his head to look at the man. The man's words seemed to die in his throat when he saw who he was shouting at. My father gave the man a glare and the man immediately shuffled his way back into the line and put his head down. My father gave a grunt and continued on. I turned back toward the man and tried to give him a sympathetic look but I could not catch his eye.

This had been how it was ever since the return of the dark lord a few months ago at the end of my fourth year at Hogwarts. Nobody was ever quite brave enough to confront my father directly, and nobody was ever able to get proof that he was a loyal death eater, but they all knew deep down that he was still the Dark Lord's right hand man. That knowledge made almost everyone in the wizarding world afraid to do anything that may put them on my father's bad side. They all knew what fate could await them if they got on the nerves of Voldemort's best follower.

After my father had revealed who he was to that man, nobody else in the line spoke to us or even looked at us as we passed them. Before long we had made our way to the entrance to the campsite and my father pushed his way to being first in line. "Ticket please." A man said in a bored voice. When my father did not give him one, the man looked up at him. "Mr. M-Malfoy," he said. The color was draining from his face. "Ah, yes the minister t-told me that you would be coming. Um, I'll go fetch him for you then shall I?" The man tried to smile but his nervousness from being around my father caused the smile to look like a mockery of a smile on his face. My father nodded in response to the man and the man quickly turned toward his broomstick and flew off into the campsite to fetch the minister. He was only too happy to be away from my father.

A moment later thee was a loud crack in front of us. I flinched, surprised at the noise and turned to see the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge apperate right in front of my father. He was a short man, and my father towered over him as he did me. "Ah, Lucius my old friend, I heard you had arrived." He put his hands out and began moving forward to embrace my father as if he was an old friend but my father only stuck a hand out toward Fudge for him to shake. Fudge stopped in his tracks and politely shook my father's hand. "Well then Lu- err, I mean Mr. Malfoy," the minister said. "Shall I show you to where we'll be watching the world cup from?"

"Yes, you shall." My father said bluntly as though the minister was his to order around. A look of annoyance crossed the minister's face when my father gave him that order but it was gone in a split second and replaced by a pleasant smile.

"Well right this way then." The minister said. He led us through the campground and walked us toward an extremely large building overlooking the quidditch pitch. Along the way, Fudge tried to engage my father is light and meaningless conversation, but my father was not one to engage in small talk and let Fudge know it continuously giving one or two word answers and sometimes not responding to his questions at all. Fudge took the hint quickly enough and stopped speaking.

We passed many stern looking wizards dressed in ministry robes. _Security Guards, _I thought to myself, _And a lot of them._ The huge amount of security was hardly surprising given what happened at last year's cup. Nevertheless, it made me feel a bit safer. Looking at them all made me think that perhaps they had a chance to thwart the coming attack. I tried not to stare too obviously at them. I couldn't afford to let my father see that I was pinning my hopes on the ministry to stop Voldemort.

As we walked deeper the campsite I turned my attention to the people around us. Most were far too caught up in their own business to notice the three of us passing. Nevertheless, I took an interest in what they were doing. I saw one tent that made me stop in my tracks and walk closer for a closer inspection of it. The tent was absolutely tiny compared to the tents around it but when I looked inside I saw that somebody had enchanted it to be physically bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. The tent could not have been bigger than five feet by five feet and yet inside there was a multitude of people laughing, making toasts and debating who had the better chance to win the world cup this year. Inside the tent alongside the people there were animated portraits hanging on the wall who were every bit as involved in the conversation as the people were. I laughed along with several of the people in the tent as one of the portraits reached out from its frame and whacked a person who was disagreeing with it about who was going to win the cup.

I was tempted to go into the tent to explore further but I hesitated because I did not know anyone who was in there and I doubted that people would be eager to play host to Lucius Malfoy's son at this time. I reluctantly turned away from the tent and hurried to catch up to my father and the minister who had continued on when I had stopped.

Further into the campground, another tent caught my eye. This one was enormous, and on top of it there was a likeness of the tent's owner's favorite quidditch team in various poses for the entertainment of onlookers. This time though I resisted the urge to stop and look at it.

Finally we arrived at the large building the minister had been leading us to. Fudge held open the door for us as we entered. My father strode past him without so much as glancing at him but I took a moment to nod my thanks to him as I entered. "You'll be watching the world cup with me on the top floor of this fine establishment." Fudge said. "Allow me to show you to your seats." He led us over to a long vertical shaft that appeared to have no floor or ceiling. Fudge took out his wand, pointed it toward the empty shaft in front of us and said an incantation. Immediately, a floor appeared in front of us inside the shaft and we stepped onto it. "Top floor." Fudge said to the floor. We began moving up extremely quickly and in no time at all, we had arrived at the top floor.

I gazed out at the room in front of me and gasped in wonder. It was furnished far more extravagantly than any room we had in the Malfoy manor. The room boasted a window that took up on whole side of the room that overlooked the quidditch pitch. Just behind the window were three chairs that looked so comfortable I wanted to run right over and sink into one of them for hours and forget my worries. Standing along one of the walls were three servants dressed in some of the finest dress robes I had ever seen. The servants came up to us. "Will you be requiring anything from us sirs?" They asked the three of us.

"No. Not right now." My father said.

The minister looked out at the room and the servants with pride. "I spared no expense when I designed this room for us Mr. Malfoy. One so esteemed as you deserves nothing less." My father nodded toward the minister accepting his praise and favored him with a small and plastic smile. It was a very awkward scene for all of us. My father and I both knew very well that the minister did not think so highly of us at all. He was only treating us so kindly because he felt it was important to stay in the good graces of my father at least until the ministry could find a way to effectively rid the world of my father's master forever.

The minister broke the uncomfortable silence. "Will this room do Mr. Malfoy?" He asked.

"It will Minister. You've outdone yourself this time. I'm sure we'll be quite comfortable here."

"I'm glad to hear it." Fudge replied. "These servants are here to wait on you. Tell them if you require anything. Now if you'll excuse me I have much to do to prepare for the world cup. With the return of You-know-who a few months ago and the death eater attack on the world cup last year prior to his return, the ministry has seen fit to add a great deal of extra security to the world cup this year and I must prepare the extra wizards for their assignments." The minister smiled politely "I'd hate to be a death eater trying to attack the cup this year." I looked to my father. There was certainly a subtle message there that the minister meant for us to hear.

My father's expression darkened for a second but he immediately regained his composure. "I'm glad to hear that minister." He said. "It's good that you take these peoples safety so seriously." The minister nodded and gave my father a last hard look before turning around back to the elevator shaft and going back down to the ground floor. I turned toward my father to see how he was taking the news of extra security. After the minister left he sat down in one of the chairs. After a moment he saw me watching him. "Be gone Draco I have thinking to do." I nodded and did as I was told, grateful for the chance for some alone time.

After a moment I was back on the ground floor and wandered out of the building back out to the campground. For a long time I went from tent to tent admiring the work that wizards and witches had put into their tents. One had fireworks shooting out of its roof and when those fireworks exploded they formed the shapes of the quidditch players that would be competing in the world cup tonight and began playing each other in a quidditch game. After each game of quidditch, the fireworks would go off again and form the quidditch players all over again and begin the game anew. Fascinated, I walked over to the man who owned the tent. He was proudly looking up at the enchanted fireworks he'd created. "Excuse me sir," I said. "But what you've done on your tent here is incredible. Would you mind telling me exactly how you managed to enchant your fireworks to do that?"

The man looked around at me and beamed. Obviously pleased that someone thought so much of his work that they would stop and ask him about it. "Well you see young man," he began, but then he took a closer look at my face and his face went from excited to thoughtful. "Say, don't I know you from somewhere?"

I answered automatically him before I thought about whether I should tell him the truth of not. "Well you probably haven't me before but you do probably know me. I'm Draco Malfoy." I extended my hand for him to shake, but the man only recoiled from my hand as if he thought I might strike him with it. I looked up at his face again to see that it had changed again, this time from thoughtful to fearful.

"Oh, Mr. M-Malfoy you say?" He stammered. "Um, excuse me Dra- I mean, uh, sir. But I must go back inside my tent for a moment I have um…something important to take care of in there." He gave me a weak and unconvincing smile and then abruptly turned and scurried back to his tent and quickly disappeared inside it.

Disappointed, and a little hurt, I turned away from the tent and resumed my wandering of the campground. I silently scolded myself for telling that man who I was. I should have known he would only be afraid of me and run away. After all, that had been just about everyone's reaction to me since the return of Voldemort a short time ago. As afraid as everyone was of getting on my father's bad side, they seemed to be almost as afraid of getting on my bad side for fear that I would go to my father with my complaints of them. I scowled to myself at the unfairness of that. I wasn't my father, and I wasn't even remotely close to sharing a personality with my father. Why couldn't other people see that? If they could only realize I didn't want support Voldemort anymore than they did, the perhaps they would not continue to shun me as nearly everyone had been doing for the past few months.

After a few moments I was jarred out of my brooding thoughts when I walked into a man I did not see. "Oh, beg your pardon sir. I didn't see you coming," I said. I would have said more but then I looked up at the man I walked into and the words would not come. The only thing I could stammer out was, "Weasley?"

"Malfoy?" He said. He looked almost as surprised to see me as I was to see him. But after a moment his surprise at seeing me wore off and he seemed to remember that he hated me. Now he looked at me with disdain. "What are you doing here?" He asked icily.

"Well, my father and I were invited by the minister to come here." I said. Weasley's expression only darkened some more.

"Oh of course you were," He said. "You and that stupid bloke of a father you've got get the royal treatment wherever you go." He snorted his dislike at me and then pushed his way past me. Right then I realized if I let him leave I was passing up a great opportunity. If I could find out where he his tent was set up, I would undoubtedly find where Potter was staying. Then after the death eaters arrived at the world cup I could cut a beeline for Potter and make sure I got to him before any death eaters would have a chance to attack him. Getting to him first would make it a lot easier to follow him and protect him from any death eater that got to close.

"Hey Weasley," I said. "Where are you and your friends staying?" Weasley only looked at me like I was crazy.

"As if I'd tell you Malfoy. We're having a good time at the world cup and I'm not about to let you come to our tent and ruin it for us." With that, he turned away from me again and walked away.

Undeterred, I let him get a short ways away from me and then I followed him. I made sure to stay far enough away from him so that he would not see me, but at the same time I never let him get completely out of my sight. Finally, after walking quite a long ways Weasely sat down in front of a small tent next to a black haired boy. "Blimey mate, can you believe our luck? Getting to come to the quidditch cup together two years in a row now?" I realized the black haired boy could only be Harry Potter. Right away, I made a mental note of precisely where Weasley's tent was located. Its right next to the giant yellow tent with the unicorn sculpture on the roof, I told myself. Confident that I would be able to find Potter's tent again, I turned away and began walking back toward the large building I would be watching the world cup from with my father and the minister. A smile crept its way across my face as I allowed myself to feel proud that I had gained an edge on all the other death eaters that would be arriving tonight.

Halfway back to the building, I heard the minister's voice come booming out over the campground. "Ladies and gentleman," his magically magnified voice said, "You may now begin to file into the stadium. This year's quidditch world cup is about to begin!" A roar of approval came up from the campground in response to the minister's message and right away people were pushing their way past me trying to get to the stadium as quick as they could.

I eventually managed to fight my way through the wave of people and get back to building. I ducked inside the door and closed it behind me, grateful to be out of the mob on the outside. "Top floor please." I said to the floor that appeared below me when I stepped into the elevator shaft. I shot up to the top floor to see my father and the minister standing together.

"Ah Draco," the minister said when he saw me. "You're just in time to see the beginning of the match. Come, have a seat." As I walked past my father, he discreetly pushed a note into my pocket just before I sat down. I tried to swallow the fear that rose up within me as I wondered what the note would say and sat down. The minister did not seem to have noticed, and he went up to the large window in front of us and addressed the crowd, which had finally managed to find their way to their seats. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen. As your minister of magic, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the annual quidditch world cup. In these trying times, it is more important than ever to have these occasions where we can let go of our worries and enjoy some entertainment!" The crowd answered with cheers of approval, and while the minister was encouraging them, I took the opportunity to slip my hand into my pocket and took out the note my father had given me. I unfolded it slowly, dreading what it might say. I looked back at the minister to ensure he was still facing the crowd, and then I looked down at my father's impeccable handwriting.

_Draco_, the note said. _Your robes for tonight are hidden inside the restroom next to us. Shortly after the match I will be signaling our lord to attack. I'll expect you to change into your robes and join us as soon as I send the signal._

I looked up from the note to see my father looking at me. I forced my best smile onto my face though I felt no joy and tried to look excited for what was to come. He nodded at me, apparently satisfied with the fake smile I had given him. I breathed a sigh of relief when he turned his gaze back to the minister.

Just then, the minister turned away from the crowd and back to us. "That got them excited." He remarked, smiling at himself.

"Minister if you'll excuse me I have to use the bathroom before the match starts." I said.

"Hurry back my boy." The minister replied. "The match will begin any second." I nodded, rose up from my chair and walked toward the bathroom trying to seem as calm as I could. When I entered, I couldn't see the death eater robes my father told me of and for a moment my heart leapt. Perhaps without the robes I would not be able to take part in the attack. A second later, when I shut the door, my hopes were dashed. There they were. The black robe and the mask shaped like a skull were hanging on the wall beside the doorway.

I don't know how long it lasted, but for a long time I stood and stared at the clothes that could quite possibly be my future whether I liked it or not. I stared into the blank soulless looking eye holes in the mask and wondered if one day my eyes would look just as empty and souless and devoid of all light and hope. I don't know how long I stood there hoping and praying that I was not looking at my fate but the next thing I knew, the minister was knocking on the door to the bathroom. "Draco, are you ok in there?" The minister said. "You've been in there an awfully long time."

"Yes I'm fine thank you." I said back, instantly recovering from the state that looking at the death eater robes had induced. "It must have been something I ate that didn't agree with me."

"Ah yes." The minister chuckled. "The festival food at the world cup will do that to you. Come out soon son, your missing a great match." A moment later, I pulled myself together enough to face my father and the minister again. I flushed the toilet, though I had not used it at all, and walked back to the room where I was to watch the cup from. My father glared at me with a stare that told me he was suspicous as to why I had been gone so long. I tried to ignore him and began to focus on the match to take my mind off what I knew was to come.

I watched for hours as the Chudley Cannons and the London Lepricons went head to head in what was truly a remarkebly entertaining quidditch match. I lost myself in the excitement and cheered along with the crowd whenever one of the players performed an especially impressive quidditch move. After a very long time, the match ended with the Chudley Cannon's seeker grabbing the golden snitch in midair to put the Chudley Cannons ahead 740-650 and finish the game. I cheered along with everyone else in attendance for the event I had just witnessed until my father put a hand on my shoulder. When that happened I was brought back to my senses and my father seemed to look at me with expression that said it was nearly time for the attack to begin. All the excitement I had gotten from the quidditch match left me immediately and was replaced by my old feeling of dread for what was to come.

I looked back out of the window and I saw the crowd beginning to file out of the arena. Most of the were still buzzing with excitement over what they had just witnessed. I couldn't help but feel immensely sorry for them. So many of them were hard working decent people who were about ot have their lives cut short for no good reason. My eye's began to well up with tears as I thought about the fate that may await some of those people. The tears dripped down my cheeks and fell onto the floor, and I turned away from the window. I just couldn't bare to look at those innocent people.

The minister had left the room and left my father and I alone for the time being. My father looked at me. "This is it Draco. The time is almost upon us now." He said, and his whole body seemed to swell with excitement. "Soon Harry Potter will be dead and the entire wizarding world will once again live in terror of the dark lord and the death eaters. And you Draco, you shall be one of us." Evidently he was so overcome with excitement at the prospect of terrorizing innocent people that he failed to notice that my eyes were still red as slightly swollen from the tears I had wept. "Yes. Any moment now I shall signal the dark lord and never again will I have to sit and suffer through the minister preaching to me on how the ministry will overcome the death eaters."

At that moment, a sudden conviction came over me. A conviction of such strength that I had never felt its like before. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that what my father was doing was horribly wrong and that I was absolutely correct by planning to counteract him and protect Potter and as many other innocent people as I could tonight. At that moment not only was I sure that what I was planning was right, I was ashamed to be the son of the man standing in front of me who was practically bursting with excitement at the thought of slaughtering innocents. I WILL thwart you father. I thought to myself. As long as I draw breath you shall never get your hands on Harry Potter or any other innocent person as long as I can help it.

My father looked out the window again to see that the arena had all but emptied out. "Yes." My father said. "They should all have made their way back to their blasted tents by now. The attack can at long last, begin." As I watched, he pulled out from his pocket, a small piece of glass that had a dark mark impressed onto it. He took out his wand and firmly pressed it against the dark mark on the glass. The dark mark began to swirl and seemed to become much darker in color when my father's wand touched it. A moment later, the dark mark suddenly stopped swirling, and my father smiled. "The signal has been sent." He hurled the piece of glass against the wall and smiled as it shattered into many little pieces. "Now Draco. Hurry and put your robes on by the time you leave this building with them on the campground will be swarming with death eaters. I shall put on my own robes and join you soon enough."

I knew there was no more time for thought. The death eaters would be arriving any moment and if i was going to be an effective shield for Potter and the others, i absolutely had to rwach him first. I sprinted off to the bathroom again and put my death eater robes on over my normal clothes. For a second, i caught a glimpse of myself in the bathroom's mirror and i gazed at myself through the skull shaped mask i now wore. "I may dress like one of them but i will never be one of them in my heart." I said. And I meant it with all my heart and soul.

I left the bathroom and sprinted down to the building's exit in my haste to make sure i got to Potter first. When i reached the ground floor and through the door open i was greeted by a confused mess of people running to and fro trying to find spme place to safely. My father had not lied. The death eaters had indeed begun to arrive by the time i left the building and were already causing a panic in the campsite. I saw a eath eater flying on a broomstick shooting green jets of light out of his wand laughing maniacally as he was doing so. I took careful aim at him. "Stupefy!" I yelled. My spell caught him in the chest and both he and the broomstick fell to the ground. I hurried over to him and deliverd another stunning spell to ensure he would be unconcious for some time. After i was satisfied he would not be taking further part in the fighting i grabbed the broomstick he had been using and mounted it.

I flew into the aircut a beeline for where i remembered Weasely's tent being. Along the way I surveyed the campsite and around the perimeter of the camp I saw the security wizards that Fudge had told my father about earlier attempting to keep the majority if the death eaters out of the campsite. Unfortunately for the security wizards though, they were horribly outnumbered by the death eaters and could not possibly succeed in keeping all of them out of the campsite. Nevertheless, the wizards fought valiantly and defeated many more death eaters than they let into the camp. I was genuinely inspiried by the courage i saw those wizards exhibiting and i spurred myself onwards to Weasely's tent.

I was nearly there when i saw a flock of red heads that could only be the weasely family. I flew down towards them and i heard when Weasely's father shout, "GET BACK TO THE PORTKEY EVERYBODY AND STICK TOGETHER!"

"COME ON HARRY!" Ron said, and suddenly the whole group was at an all out sprint across the campground toward whatever portkey they had arrived from. I smiled, glad to see that i had been the first to find Potter and his friends. I locked my eyes on the lot of them and followed as close as i dared as they ran through the camp and i kept a watchful eye out for any death eater who got too close for comfort.

While Potter and his friend ran through the campsite, several of the death eaters who had made it past the security wizards caught sight of him and immediately began to follow, trying to get a chance to shoot a killing curse at him. No doubt they were lured by the promise of gold that my father and Voldemort had given them if they were the death eater to kill Potter. The first death eater to give chase to Potter was a tall man who came up from behind Potter and his group and began to take careful aim at Potter's back. "Stupefy!" I yelled again, and just before the death eater got off his spell, my curse hit him and he crumpled to the ground out cold.

Another death eater quickly came to take the first ones place. This second death eater saw Potter running towards him and even from the sky on my broomstick I could see the death eater's eyes get large as he saw Potter. The death eater quickly aimed at Potter, but before he could cast his spell, I hit him with petrificus totalus spell of my own and his body immediately became as rigid as a piece of wood and he collapsed to the ground.

A third death eater came at Potter from the side and before he could even aim his wand at Potter I knocked him out cold with another stunning spell. With every death eater that fell before me, I became more and more confident that I could protect Potter's group long enough for them to reach their portkey and return to safety. Death eater after death eater tried to curse Potter, and time after time I protected him either by casting a shield charm on Potter himself or by cursing the death eaters before they could even cast a spell at Potter.

After several minutes of this, I fell into a zone and I no longer seemed to be able to perceive anything except Potter and any death eater who attacked him. I cast curses at the death eaters as though I had been born to do nothing else and the shield charms I cast on Potter seemed so strong that no spell was likely to break through them.

After many more minutes, Potter and his friends finally stopped running and gathered around a discarded old tire. For a second I was confused. Why on earth would they stop when they were under almost constant attack from the death eaters? The, understanding burst upon me and I realized that the tire they crowded around must be the portkey they had taken to get here. I heard Mr. Weasley's voice again as he shouted, "GRAD HOLD OF THE TIRE ON THREE EVERYONE. WE'RE GOING BACK HOME. ONE. TWO. THREE!" Several pairs of hands shot forward to grab the tire and a split second later the entire group of them vanished into thin air.

I was absolutely ecstatic when I saw that. All my self-doubt over the last couple days had been for naught. I had been able to protect Potter and his friends from the death eaters, and now they had escaped from the world cup without so much as a scratch on them. I stared at the spot where the group of them had vanished for a moment beaming with pride at what I had accomplished, and then I began to make my way back to where the portkey I had arrived at with my father. But suddenly I realized that there was more work to be done for me to do here at the world cup. I looked back to the campsite and saw many people running and screaming in terror as the death eaters rained down curse after curse at them and their families. I knew I would not be able to live with myself if I abandoned so many people to such horrible fates, so I turned around and raced back into the fray.

In the midst of the campsite, I looked down and saw a man on the ground cowering in fear of a death eater towering over him. "Please don't hurt me sir!" The man pleaded. "I'll give anything you want."

The death eater only cackled at him. "A mudblood like you couldn't possibly have anything I want." Disgusted by the man's actions I let him have it with another stunning spell. As soon as the death eater fell to the ground the man spied his chance to get away and fled for his life.

Satisfied that he would be alright, I moved on looking for another person in need of aid. I found one almost immediately. A wizard wearing the symbol of the ministry of magic was dueling against two death eaters at once and he was not doing so well. The death eaters threw insults at the ministry wizard along with their curses. "Expeliarmus!" I shouted. The death eater's wands flew out of their hands and suddenly they ceased hurling insults at the wizard as they realized they were now defenseless before him. The ministry wizard shot a jet of purple light out of his wand. The death eaters screamed as the purple spell touched them and a second later flew backwards and out of sight.

Again I moved on searching for another victim of the death eaters, and again I found one right away. This time it was a woman cowering in fear of a death eater and pleading for mercy. The woman didn't beg for her own life though, she begged for the life of her child who was being held by the death eater in front of her. "Please sir. Let him go. He hasn't done anything to hurt you."

The death eater only spat at her. "I don't think so woman." My heart seemed to stop in my chest. I knew that voice. I knew beyond a doubt it belonged to my father. I watched as if in a trance as my father tormented the poor woman and her child and enjoyed himself doing it. "I think it'd be much more fun to make you sit there and watch me curse him to oblivion." The woman wailed and I seemed to wake up from my trance. I fired a banishing charm at my father and watched as my spell connected and he unwillingly flew off into the distance. The woman did not question what had happened. She only ran forward, grabbed her child and clutched him close to her chest.

Before I could go searching for another citizen being tormented by the death eaters, a loud voice rang out over the campground. I did not recognize it but it carried a certain authority with it. "Death eaters retreat!" The voice shouted. "The ministry has summoned reinforcements and they will be here any moment. Leave the campsite before we are overrun. Any death eater caught by the ministry will not receive any help from the dark lord."

I looked around the campsite and watched as many of the death eaters began running back from wherever they had come to the campground from. I decided it would be best for me to leave now too. I steered my broomstick back toward the clearing in the forest just outside the campground where the portkey I had arrived on would be waiting for me.

I reached the clearing easily and saw the portkey up ahead and I breathed a sigh of relief that I would be able to escape the world cup without being arrested by the ministry. I knew they would never believe me if told them what I had really been doing during the attack. I touched the portkey and once again, I was sent on a wild ride as it whipped me through space this way and that before spitting me out in the clearing in the woods overlooking the small muggle town my father and I had passed on our way to the cup. I mounted my broomstick again and began to fly back to the Malfoy manor. I flew well around and above the muggle town to make sure none of them would see me flying. It occurred to me at that time that since I had used the portkey my father and I had used to arrive at the cup, and it was no longer there for my father to use, my father may not be able to follow me home with that portkey. I held out no hope that he would be captured by the ministry though. Even if he returned to the clearing to find the portkey he had used gone, he was to powerful a wizard to be overwhelmed by most ministry security wizards. He would almost certainly find another way to escape the cup.

As I pondered my father's possible fate at the world cup I arrived back home and put my broomstick away in its usual resting place and slowly made my way back up to my bedroom. Only then did it really dawn on me what I had just accomplished. I had actually done what I set out to do. I had defied my father's and the dark lord's wishes and been successful at it and more importantly, I had stopped the death eaters from murdering the one person who may be the only one who could ever bring about Voldemort's permanent downfall, Harry Potter himself. A rush of excitement came over me. I felt so empowered. If I could be successful as defying my father and Voldemort once, what would stop me from doing it again and again and again?

As I always did when I had something to get off my chest and no one to get it off too, I pulled out my diary from its hiding place in my desk.

_Dear diary,_

_I DID IT! I went to the world cup and saved Harry Potter from more death eater attacks than I can even count. For the first time in so long I actually feel good about myself. Instead of continuing to be my father's pawn and going along with the death eater's plan to attack the world cup and terrorize the people there I stood up to the death eaters and protected the people they attacked. I can't believe I ever really thought that I might be lured or forced into being a death eater by my father. I think tonight I proved, to myself at least, that I really am my own person and my I control my own life. It's not my father's to play around with and do with as he pleases. It's mine. MINE!_

I slipped the diary back into my desk and quickly took off the death eater robes and mask that my father had given me for the world cup. I threw them unceremoniously to the ground and glared at them. I had kept the promise I made to myself earlier than night. "I may have dressed like one of them but I sure didn't act like one." I said to myself.

After a moment I realized just how tired I was from the night's events and went over to my bed, intentionally going out of my way to walk over the death eater robes just for the sake of stepping on them. I slipped into my bed looking forward to a restful sleep and I happily closed my eyes and prepared to surrender myself to sleep. Then a door downstairs slammed as if someone had whipped it shut in fury. "DRACO!" my father screamed, his voice full of rage. I sat up in the bed. At once I was fully alert and fearful of what was yet to come tonight. Did my father know what I had done tonight at the cup? I tried to assure myself that there was no way he could know, but the fear that he might persisted. The fear only grew larger as I heard my father's footsteps coming up the stairs toward me. I felt frozen in fear ton my bed as I waited to see what would happen.

My father threw open my door and marched over to me. "Draco!" he yelled, "Get out of bed! The dark lord has called for an immediate meeting of every one of us death eaters. There were several reports of a death eater who betrayed us tonight and sabotaged us to keep us from harming the people at the cup and the dark lord means to find out who it was." He dragged me out of bed and toward the fireplace downstairs in the living room.

So know at least I knew what had him so mad. Apparently my father knew that someone had been working against the death eaters tonight, but was unsure of who it was. My mind was frantically trying to come up with ways to ensure he would not find out it was me but I had absolutely no ideas of how I could accomplish such a thing.

My father angrily threw floo powder onto the fire and stepped into the fireplace while he dragged me behind him. "Theodore Nott's manor!" he yelled at the floor powder, and suddenly we were moving through the floo network toward the last person I wanted to be around right now, lord Voldemort. Again I tried to figure out how to ensure I would not be found out, and again, I could not think of anything.

END OF CHAPTER 3

Author's note: Hey guys, as of right now, I'm looking for beta readers. For anyone who doesn't know, a beta reader will read my future chapters before I upload them and check for typos and various other possible errors and let me know what they think of the chapter overall. If your at all interested in doing that, let me know in a private message or a review.

See you guys next update!


	4. My First Assignment

Chapter 4: First Assignment

As we emerged from the fireplace in Theodore Nott's living room, my mouth tasted ashy. Some of the floo powder we had used to get here had worked its way into my mouth as I screamed in frustration during the floo trip over here because of my inability to think of a way to make the dark lord believe I had not acted against the death eaters. I didn't have time to clear the powder out of my mouth though. As soon as we arrived at the fireplace my father had yanked me to my feet and was marching me off to the dark lord's chambers. "Quit your infernal screaming and come with me!" He shouted.

Theodore Nott appeared in front of us as we turned a corner. "Lucius," He said. "He's more furious that I've seen him in a long time. You'd best not keep him waiting." My father's face turned pale at that announcement but he did not respond. He shoved his way past Theodore and stopped just short of the large door that I knew Voldemort would be on the other side of.

He leaned down and whispered in my ear. "Don't draw attention to yourself in there. When the dark lord is this angry nothing good can come of drawing his gaze." I nodded back at him. He took a deep breath, pushed the door open and strode through it looking as confident and self-assured as he always did. I followed him through the door and stared at the ground floor.

Our entrance seemed to go all but unnoticed. The several hundred death eaters gathered in the room were shouting at each other in very agitated tones. Each of them seemed to be arguing over who they thought had been the one who had been working against them during the world cup attack. They're afraid, I realized with a start. They know there's a traitor in their midst but they can't figure out who. It gave me a strange feeling. To know that I was the cause of unease amongst the death eaters made me feel almost powerful. I liked that. I had felt so helpless and powerless before the death eaters for so long and now to feel like I had some semblance of power over them was a very welcome feeling.

My father strode confidently toward the front of the room where Voldemort sat silently seething with his snake Nagini hanging from his neck and I shuffled along behind him trying to do as he told me and not draw attention to myself. When I looked around at the death eaters arguing around me, I seemed to be succeeding. None of them even spared me a glance and I walked past them. All of them carried on their arguments about whom it was that had betrayed them and all the while I just continued to hope I would be able to survive this encounter with the dark lord. I knew beyond a doubt that if he learned it had been me, he would not hesitate to murder me right there on the spot in front of my father and every other death eater.

After a moment, my father and I had crossed the room and we sat down in our designated seats. Voldemort still did not act. Instead, he continued to sit silently at the head of the room and let the death eaters carry on increasingly noisy debate over the identity of the betrayer. Accusations were flying out of death eater's mouths left and right and to me it even seemed that a few of them were on the verge of cursing each other in the heat of their argument. After several more moments of this, Voldemort raised his head, and very quietly, cleared his throat. The death eaters at the front of the room, close enough to hear it instantly fell silent, and the wave of silence spread out over the room until even the most boisterous death eaters became quiet and waited for their dark lord to speak. After a moment, he did.

"All right," He said, in a tone as dangerous sounding as a horrible curse. "Which one of you thought you'd be able to betray me and get away with it! You should all know that I am the dark lord and nobody can best me! That is why you follow me! You cannot beat me! You are weak! You are subservient!" Now he rose from his seat. "WHO WAS IT! COME FORWARD NOW AND I'LL KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND. TRY TO HIDE FROM ME AND I WILL MAKE YOU WISH I HAD KILLED YOU!" None of the death eaters moved. They looked at the dark lord horrified. Many of them were obviously, in the same boat I was. I saw many of them just looking at the floor, hoping that Voldemort would not accuse them of being the culprit.

When nobody came forward Voldemort became even angrier. He brandished his wand and in his frustration shot a large ball of red light toward a wall. When the red ball struck the wall the ball exploded, leaving a gaping hole in the wall. The death eaters who had been sitting near that part of the wall quickly slinked away from that spot right away. "I'm warning you all right now. If I have to slaughter every last one of you to make sure I got rid of the betrayer I will do it without thinking twice." Voldemort threatened.

There was no way he'd make good on that threat, I told myself. Voldemort was indeed very powerful, but if he hoped to overthrow the ministry, he needed his death eaters. He was already not faring very well in his fight against the ministry, and now that his plan to kill Harry Potter at the world cup has been thwarted by one of his own, he could not afford to lose any more men than he absolutely must.

"NOW WHO WAS IT!" He shouted again. When nobody came forward, another spasm of rage hit him and he sent another ball of red light at a wall, creating another large hole in it. "WHO WAS IT!" This time, in his rage, he sent a green jet of light into the chest of one of the death eaters sitting nearby with his head down. The man lifted his head and screamed in agony as the killing curse connected with his heart and took his life.

When I watched the man slump to the floor, his body completely limp, my breath caught in my throat and I let out an involuntary gasp of shock. Perhaps I had been wrong about Voldemort's threat being empty. Maybe he really was insane enough to destroy his death eaters over the world cup. In that moment, I began to wonder if I should step up and admit it had been me that betrayed him. He would certainly kill me, but at least I would die knowing I had kept my promise to myself of not succumbing to the dark side. "WHO WAS IT!" He said again. This time, when nobody came forward, Voldemort shot a purple jet of light from his wand. The purple light connected with one of the long tables in the room and blew that part of the table up. The death eaters sitting there let out cries of pain as they were thrown backward and slammed against the wall by the force of the explosion. Most of the death eaters who went crashing into the wall did not get back up again when they landed. WHO WAS IT!" He said, beginning to sound like a child having a temper tantrum. This time in response to the silence he was met with, he sent a killing curse at a random death eater again and watched with ecstasy as the death eater, a woman this time, wailed in pain and collapsed to the floor, unmoving.

I was convinced now. Voldemort really would kill every last person in this room to make sure he took down the person who'd betrayed him. Somebody had to step forward and admit to this or hundreds of lives would be cut short by the mad man in front of me. I started to stand up, but another thought occurred to me. Wasn't the end of the death eaters what I wanted? If Voldemort ended them all for me wouldn't that just save me a whole lot of trouble down the road? "WHO WAS IT!" Another killing curse, another scream, and another limp body on the floor. I averted my eyes this time. I knew it would be easier for me if I sat back here and allowed the death eaters to be punished for something I had done, but there was something inside me that wouldn't let me do that. 'These are death eaters though,' I told myself, and didn't they deserve what they were getting?

"WHO WAS IT!" Another purple jet of light, another explosion and more cries of pain. 'Yes, they are all death eaters,' that thing inside me said. 'But aren't you better than them? If you let them all die now because of you, how are you any different than them? You want the death eaters to be beaten, but you want to do it the right way, and letting them all be murdered here while they're helpless to fight back is not the right way and you know it.'

Well, my conscience had me there. As crazy as it sounded, I had convinced myself that stepping up and protecting the death eaters was the right thing to do. I stood up from my chair and prepared myself to meet my maker. My father noticed and he grabbed me by my death eater robes and tried to pull me back down. I looked down at him with disdain and knocked his hand away. "WHO WAS IT!" I was about to speak up when something caught me by surprise and shocked me back into silence. Before Voldemort could cast another spell this time, somebody shouted a disarming spell at him, and his wand flew out of his hand. Voldemort turned toward the wizard who had cast it. His bright red eyes were filled with rage.

The man who had cast the spell stood up and looked defiantly back at Voldemort. "IT WAS ME, MY LORD," he shouted, the words my lord were absolutely dripping with sarcasm and it was clear to everyone that the man no longer had any intention to serve Voldemort. "I TURNED ON THE DEATH EATERS AT THE WORLD CUP!" He continued. "KILLING AN ENEMY IN FAIR BATTLE IS ONE THING, BUT HOW CAN ANYONE JUSTIFY THE WORLD CUP ATTACK! I SAW CHILDREN BEING CURSED WHILE THEY WERE SOBBING AND CLUTCHING AT THEIR MOTHER'S LEG! I SAW A MAN KILLED FOR TRYING TO DEFEND HIS FAMILY! I SAW SO MANY THINGS THAT WERE INDESCRIBABLY HEINOUS THAT I JUST COULDN'T DO IT! I HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO DEFEND THEM!

Voldemort's fury was at the breaking point now. He did not even bother to find his wand that the man had sent flying away from his with his spell. Instead, he ran across the tabletops and charged down the man with his eyes wide with fury and his nostril's flaring. The man did not seem to care about Voldemort's charge. He continued his diatribe against Voldemort and the death eaters. "HOW ANYONE CAN LIVE WITH THEMSELVES AFTER COMMITING SUCH ATROCITIES IS WAY BEYOND ME! YOU CAN ALL-"

The rest of his words never left his throat. Voldemort reached him and wrapped his hands around the man's throat in an iron grip. I gasped in terror as I realize what he was doing. They tumbled to the floor, but Voldemort did not let up his grip on the man. Voldemort did not honor the man with words either. For the next few minutes, Voldemort stared down at the man and watched as the man struggled at first but gradually became limp as his strength deserted him. When the man breathed his last breath, Voldemort sneered down at him. Then a smile crossed his face. He stood up and looked around at the remainder of the death eaters around him. "Let that serve as an example to the rest of you. Anyone who crosses the dark lord shall receive no mercy from me and they shall have no place in my new world I create when I conquer the ministry and establish my supremacy over the muggle world!"

Nobody spoke. Some of the death eaters nodded at him and turned their gaze down toward the tables they were sitting at. My father recovered from the shock of the brutal murder first and again grabbed me by my robes and pulled me back down into my chair. This time I was too surprised by what I had just seen to resist him, and I slid meekly back down into my chair and watched with empty eyes as Voldemort strode over to his wand, picked it up and put it back in its place, then sauntered his way back toward his seat at the front of the room beside me and my father.

I couldn't believe it. Voldemort's cruelty did not surprise me; it was that I had apparently not been alone in my actions at the world cup. If another death eater had been doing the same thing, maybe I was not alone in my hatred for Voldemort. How many more death eaters thought the way I did? If that man had been on my side, who was to say two or three or maybe even more death eaters would side with me if given the opportunity? The thought excited me a ton. To know that I was not alone amongst the death eaters was the best thing that had happened to me in a long time.

Voldemort interrupted my thoughts when he sat down again. "Well now that we've exterminated the traitor, we can move on and get to business." He said. Oh that's right, I thought, since that man had stood up and taken the blame I was off the hook. The thought made me breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe I wasn't going to die today after all. "As for the rest of you, my beloved death eaters," Voldemort continued, "I have nothing but praise for what you accomplished at the world cup." He smiled down at them. His demeanor had changed instantly now that he had murdered the man he thought had been the only one to betray him. "You killed many of the civilians at the cup and even more of the ministry wizards. The people of the wizarding world will be as terrified of us now as they have ever been now that they know that no matter how much security the ministry puts on them, we can overcome it and destroy them."

"With so many of the ministry wizards dead, the ministry may even be ripe for direct assault very soon, and then NOTHING will be able to stop us!" Voldemort stopped for a moment and looked down at the death eaters as they cheered at what he'd just said. I watched them closely. Most cheered with seemingly real enthusiasm, but a few that I spotted only seemed to be cheering to fit in with the crowd and not draw attention to themselves. I tried to burn their faces into my memory. Perhaps one day I'd get the chance to talk to them privately and see if I could persuade them to rebel as I had done at the cup.

Voldemort interrupted the cheers. "But!" He shouted. The death eaters silenced immediately. "But, thanks to the efforts of the betrayer, whose name will no longer be mentioned, we must form a new strategy to kill Harry Potter. As long as he lives, the wizarding world will continue to believe that he is my equal and he may be able to defeat me. I will not stand for that. We must end him before Potter can help the ministry and the order of the phoenix work against me."

"My lord," A high voice came from right below me. I looked down from my seat and saw Bellatrix Lestrange standing up from her chair. Her eyes were wide with anticipation. "Let me do it! Let me be the one to kill him in your name! I can storm into his muggle home and murder him right there in front of his relatives!" She cackled, her high shrill voice bounced off the walls of the room. I found her laughter so disturbing it was all I could do not to cover my ears.

Voldemort chuckled from his seat. "My dear Bellatrix, I find your ruthless bloodlust inspiring." He said. Bellatrix looked up at him hopefully as she waited for him to accept or reject her plan. I was disgusted by her and her horrible plans that she seemed to be hatching constantly and putting in front of Voldemort for his consideration. Voldemort considered her for a few minutes as he mulled over her plan to surprise Potter and storm his house. "Bellatrix, are you confident that you can get the job done?"

"Oh yes my lord!" She said. "I will never fail you as the vile traitor did at the cup!"

"Very well then Bellatrix," Voldemort responded, "You have my permission to carry out your plan on the Potter boy's home. But you must be quick about it my dear. For the day after tomorrow he leaves on the Hogwarts express and with that old fool Dumbledore guarding him, he will be out of our reach."

"Thank you my lord. Before tomorrow night I will gladly deliver the Potter's body to you. Then nobody shall question your supremacy again!" She cackled again. That same demented laugh she let out a moment ago.

"My lord," a soft voice said from beside me. It took me a moment to realize that it belonged to my father. I looked over at him surprised that he was even capable of such a soft tone of voice. I had never heard it out of him before. "I'm not certain that Ms. Lestrange's plan is the wisest course of action we have available to us."

Bellatrix looked over at him with disdain clear on her face. I knew that the two of them had been competing with each other for the title of Voldemort's favorite servant for some time now and that competition had stirred up quite a rivalry between them and more than a little bit of animosity. "Shut your mouth Malfoy," She growled at him. "The dark lord has already approved my plan and I intent to-"

"Silence Bellatrix," Voldemort interrupted. "Lucius is a reliable and trusted death eater and I always value his thoughts. I would hear his input on this matter." Bellatrix sat back down in her seat reluctantly, still shooting daggers at my father with her eyes. My father paid her no mind and he stood up before the gathered death eaters and paced the floor for a moment before speaking.

"My lord, while I don't doubt Ms. Lestrange's magical prowess," My father began, "I feel we have a much more effective way of killing Harry Potter than by simply storming his home and attacking blindly. There is one death eater among us who has a thirst to prove himself and will soon be spending nearly a year in a confined space with both Harry Potter, and his greatest protector, Albus Dumbledore. I propose that we give the assignment of killing Potter to him. Think about it my lord. Even if this death eater should fail at killing Potter once, twice or many times, it will not matter because he will be afforded many more opportunities because he will have all year to come up with a successful plot to murder Potter."

Dread began to form in the pit of my stomach as I realized what my father was trying to do. I looked at him pleadingly and silently begged him not to get me into this. He either did not notice my pleading look or he did not care.

"And why stop at killing Potter my lord?" My father continued. "Since this death eater will also be spending such a long time in a confined space with your hated enemy Dumbledore, I also propose that we give this death eater the task of murdering Dumbledore along with Potter. Should he be successful, and I honestly believe that he could be, then by the end of this year the world will be without Harry Potter to believe in. And the order of the phoenix will be without its leader to rally behind. With those two out of the way, the ministry would fall before like a tree before an avalanche and nobody would ever dare question your power again."

I sat frozen in my chair. My stomach was so full of dread I feared I may break down and panic right here in front of all the gathered death eaters. "Your plan is most intriguing Lucius." Voldemort said. "But I must say I don't know which death eater you are speaking of. Enlighten me if you would."

My father smiled at him and turned his head to face me. I gave him one last pleading look not to get me into this, and again he ignored it entirely. "The death eater I speak of is my son my lord. He will soon be spending a year at Hogwarts with Potter and Dumbledore." My father said. Every eye in the room turned towards me as I squirmed in my chair wishing they would look away. "Draco served you loyally at the world cup and he has a great desire to prove his worth to you even more. I'm sure he'd be honored to take the assignment of killing Potter and Dumbledore. What's more he is a very gifted wizard for one of his age and I am certain killing those two is well within his abilities."

"A very fine plan Lucius," Voldemort said. "I commend you." Then he turned his bright red eyes toward me. As he studied me, I tried to stop myself from squirming in my chair and tried to stop the quivering of my lip so he would not see me as being weak. I knew all too well what he did to people he considered weak. Voldemort seemed to reach a decision and he nodded. "Yes," he said. "Draco you have yet to prove yourself truly worthy of being one of my death eaters. So I hereby give you this task. By the end of this term at Hogwarts, you must kill both Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore. Only then will I consider you to truly be one of us. Should you succeed at this, I will grant you great power and wealth and ensure that you receive a very generous position in the new world I will create once those two are out of my way." He paused and after a second his face turned dark. "However, should you fail at this task, you will suffer the consequences." He did not elaborate on what those consequences would be, but it terrified me to imagine what they might be. Voldemort stood up and addressed the death eaters gathered before him. "This meeting is dismissed, get out of my sight." He told them.

I continued to sit in my chair absolutely crippled with fear. I don't know how long I would stayed there if my father had not come up to me and dragged me to my feet and forced me to start walking out of the room. Our walk to the fireplace passed in a blur. In my head I was reeling in shock and dismay. How could my father have volunteered me for this assignment? There was no way I could pull it off even if I actually wanted to. Dumbledore was far too powerful and intelligent for me to get the best of him and if he really was watching over Potter there was no way I would be able to get around the protection Dumbledore would have placed on him.

My father and I arrived at the fireplace and he threw floo powder into it and dragged me by the robes into the fireplace with him. "Malfoy manor!" He shouted. Our wild trip home passed in a blur as well. I hardly even noticed the fact that I was whirling around at incredible speeds through the floo network back to my house. When we emerged from the fireplace back in our living room I couldn't hold in my feelings toward my father anymore. I got up off the floor where the floo network had spat me out and marched over to him. Before I lost my nerve, I shoved him onto the floor and started on a furious diatribe toward him.

"HOW COULD YOU HAVE VOLUNTEERED ME FOR THAT ASSIGNMENT!" I screamed at him. "THERES NO WAY I'LL BE ABLE TO PULL IT OFF! DUMBLEDORE'S TO POWERFUL ME TO EVEN HAVE A PRAYER OF SUCCEEDING! PLUS HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED THAT MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, I DON'T WANT THIS LIFE OF BEING A DEATH EATER?! WHAT IF I'D PREFER TO BE SOMETHING ELSE?!" I would have said more but just then my father picked himself up off the ground and slapped me across the face with such force that it drove me backwards and caused me to fall to the floor. Now it was his turn to scream at me.

"DON'T BE STUPID DRACO! YOU SHOULD BE DOWN ON YOUR KNEES THANKING ME FOR GIVING YOU THIS CHANCE!"

"THANKING YOU?!" I retorted. "I OUGHT TO BE-"

"SHUT UP!" he said. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT KIND OF REWARDS THE DARK LORD WILL BESTOW UPON YOU IF YOU CAN DO THIS? YOU'LL NEVER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT A DAM THING EVER AGAIN IN YOUR LIFE! THE DARK LORD REWARDS THOSE WHO PLEASE HIM GREATLY! HOW DO YOU THINK I WAS ABLE TO BECOME RICH AND LIVE IN SUCH A NICE MANOR LIKE THIS! HE GAVE IT TO ME! YOU WILL CARRY OUT THIS MISSION AS THE DARK LORD WISHES OR YOU WIL SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES FROM ME AS WELL AS HIM! NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT BEFORE I CURSE YOU DAMMIT! I DON'T WANT TO LOOK AT YOU RIGHT NOW!"

Angrily, I picked myself up and slowly turned away from my father toward the staircase trying to seem as defiant as possible. My father came up behind me and gave me a hard and swift kick to my behind. "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT I SAID. SO HELP ME I'LL HEX YOU INTO OBLIVIAN RIGHT HERE AND NOW IF YOU DON'T HURRY YOUR ASS UP!

Fearing another kick, or something worse, I hurriedly scurried my way up to my bedroom and closed the door behind me. Again, I had a million thoughts racing through my head. Some of them were hatred for my father, the death eaters and lord Voldemort while others were fear and trepidation about the task that now lay before me. Automatically I pulled my diary out of the drawer I kept it in and poured my heart out to it.

_Diary_, I wrote.

_He's really gone too far this time. My father volunteered me for a mission tonight that I absolutely did not want and don't have a chance of succeeding at anyway. How could a father do this to their child? HOW? I swear that that man cares more about that dam lord Voldemort than he cares about me, his own flesh and blood. How does he even expect me to pull this off? Killing BOTH Potter and Dumbledore? It's just not possible. Even if I wanted to kill them, which I DON'T, there's no way I'd be powerful enough pull off such a thing. Maybe my father just wants me to fail at this so that Voldemort will kill me and he can be rid of me like I'm sure he's always wanted. That's really the only reason I can think of about why he would make me try to do something so beyond my abilities._

After a few more moments of writing, I felt at least a little bit calmer. If failing at this mission was to be my fate than who was I to stand in its way? I went to bed that night telling myself that if fate had something better in store for me, and I sure hoped it did, then a new course of action would present itself to me. In the meantime however, I may be stuck trying to please my father and Lord Voldemort.

I fell into a troubled sleep and dreamed of my father and Voldemort both urging me to slay a helpless Potter who was dangling by his feet in front of me. The next morning, I awoke more tired than when I had fallen asleep and surrounded by my own cold sweat.

End of chapter 4

Author's note: Hey guys. I hope u enjoyed this chapter. Be sure to drop me a review and let me know what you think of the chapter and of the story. Getting more reviews, positive or negative, certainly motivates me to write new chapters and update for you guys faster.


	5. Journey Back to Hogwarts

Chapter 5: Journey Back to Hogwarts

Draco's POV

"Draco!" My father's deep voice boomed up at me from downstairs. "I told you to get up! We have to get the train station!" I rolled over and groaned. It couldn't possibly be morning already could it? I looked at the clock next to my bed and saw that it was.

"DRACO!" My father yelled. Well, I had best not keep him waiting any longer, I thought.

"I'm coming!" I shouted back down to him. I rolled out of bed and took one last good look around the bedroom I had grown up in. I tried to take in every detail of it all the way down to the little scratch in paint on the wall next to my bed. I was convinced this would the final time I would ever stand in it, and I was determined not to forget one of the only places I had ever been able to feel at ease. With the task that Voldemort and my father had pressed upon me, to kill both Potter and Dumbledore this year, I was quite convinced I would either die at the hands of the order of the phoenix for trying to kill their leader, or die at the hands of Voldemort for failing at my task.

I was in the middle of admiring the get into the fireplace. It's time to go to the train station." I started walking over to it, but evidentlyway my bed looked when it was neatly made up when my father once again shattered my thoughts with his screams. "DRACO! I SWEAR TO MERLIN THAT IF YOU DON'T GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW, I'LL COME UP THERE AND CURSE YOU!"

Instantly I scrambled into my school clothes and scurried downstairs to meet my father in the living room. "Sorry I took so long." I murmured.

He only snarled at me. "Shut up and I didn't move fast enough for him. He grabbed me by the collar like he had done so many times before, and roughly marched me over to the fireplace. We stopped beside it and my father grabbed a handful of Floo powder from the bowl next to the hearth. We stepped into the fireplace, and he threw the powder down at our feet. "Platform nine and three quarters!" He shouted.

The Floo network whisked us away and spun us around on the path to Kings Cross Station. As we spun we got short glimpses of the fireplaces of other wizarding homes that were hooked up to the Floo network before we were spat out onto the Floor of platform nine and three quarters.

I picked myself up and wiped off a little bit of extra Floo powder that had fallen on me during the trip. Then I turned and surveyed the platform. I saw many families here who were saying their final good-byes to each other before the children boarded the train and were taken away for their semester at Hogwarts. For a while I just stood and watched these loving families interact with each other. A mother was hugging her eleven-year-old daughter so tightly her daughter looked likely to burst at any moment. When the mother released her, she helped her daughter fix her luggage and then took her by the hand and walked her to the train. When the little girl was aboard, the mother turned around away from the train with tears of pride and joy in her eyes. Her little girl was finally old enough to begin her magical education at Hogwarts. Both mother and daughter had been looking forward to this day for years, and now that it was happening they were both overcome with emotion.

It must be nice, I thought. To be part of a family like that. One that actually looked at you as more than just a tool that they could use to get what they wanted and then discard again as soon as you were done with it. I tried to imagine what it would be like if my father behaved like that. Try as I might though, I just couldn't picture it. Instead of hugging me, my father would only snarl at me, and if he was in a bad mood strike me.

My father walked up beside me, took me by the shoulder and spun me around to face him. For one crazy second, I thought he was going to hug me good-bye. I should have known better though, instead he just pulled me off to the side of platform well out of ear shot of anyone else who was there with us. He looked around for a moment to make sure that there was nobody who might overhear us. After a moment, he was satisfied that there was no one who would hear us and he turned to me.

"You are clear on your orders from the Dark Lord Draco?" My heart sank at the mention of Voldemort. Up until now, I had been doing my best to shove that away from my mind so I could enjoy the train ride, but my father had just brought them to the forefront of my mind again.

"Yes." I said, nodding meekly at him. He nodded back to me and not for the first time, I honestly wondered whether or not my father really expected, or even wanted me to succeed at this mission that he and his master had given me. If he really did set up this mission for me hoping that I'd be killed because of it, a lot of his actions would suddenly make a lot more sense to me than they had been. It would explain why he had given me this impossible task.

"Good," My father said. "How you kill Dumbledore and Potter is entirely up to you. It shouldn't matter if they find out it was you afterwards. Once it's done the Dark Lord will be able to keep you safe from the ministry." He paused for a moment here as if considering whether or not to continue. "Don't fail Draco. Failing at this will displease the Dark Lord and we wouldn't want that now would we?" He smiled down at me and grinned as though that was in fact exactly what he wanted to see happen.

I barely had time to wonder what that grin meant before he spoke again. "All right, get on the train. I'll be in contact with you if the Dark Lord has further orders for you. Unless I write to you first, don't write to me I'll be far too busy this term for that." And with that he strode off and left me alone on platform nine and three-quarters. It was exactly what I expected of him, but still, every year when he just left me like this, I couldn't help but feel a little hurt. Especially when I compared that with the treatment everyone else got from their parents when it was time to leave for Hogwarts.

I composed myself and strode toward the Hogwarts express while my mind wandered back to my father's grin when he mentioned the possibility that I'd fail and be punished for it. It was unsettling to say the least. Try as I might though, I could not think of anything my father knew about that he would want me dead for. Surely if he knew I had betrayed Voldemort at the world cup he would want me killed for betraying him and his lord but he didn't know about that did he? No, I reassured myself, but a lingering doubt remained that maybe, just maybe, he did and nothing I did or thought was able to shake that doubt.

After a moment I gave up my attempt to determine exactly what my father wanted me punished for as I climbed onto the train and, as I did each year, started looking for an empty compartment to sit in. Luckily I was one of the first students on the train and I had several to choose from. I entered the one on my right and sat down by myself. For a while I just stared out the window watching the other families on the platform say their good byes for the school year still wishing I could belong to one of them.

Finally, the train's whistle blew letting everyone know it would be leaving shortly and it was time to get on. The students all began to board the train. I watched from my compartment as students filed into the train and began searching for a compartment to sit in with their friends. Once, a group of students came into the compartment I was sitting alone in because they had not noticed me sitting there when they looked in. They opened the door and walked in talking amongst themselves and laughing. I looked at them when they entered and the second they noticed who was in the compartment with them, their conversation and laughter died. For a second they just stared at me in fear, almost like they thought I might take out my wand and attack them at any moment.

I tried to comfort them a little by extending my hand toward them to show them I was not going to hurt them, but they only recoiled from my hand and seemed even more frightened. After another second, one of them regained his composure enough to speak. "Um, sorry Mr. Malfoy sir," He said. "We didn't realize you were already in here." Without saying a word more, or even giving me time to respond he turned back toward his friends and pushed them all out of the compartment and away from me.

I might have almost thought it was funny had I not been so hurt. I had expected people to treat me this way since they all pretty much knew that my father was in Voldemort's inner circle and nobody wanted to risk getting on the bad side of somebody whose father was in such a position. Even though it was something I expected, it didn't hurt me any less to see people like that shunning me and wanting to get away from me as soon as they could.

It wasn't fair, I thought, why does everyone have to judge me by what my father does? How can I convince them I don't want to follow in his footsteps?

My thoughts were interrupted a few minutes later when the door to my compartment opened again. I looked over wondering who would be scarred off at the sight of me this time. "Here's an empty one guys." A voice said. A voice I recognized. In walked Ron Weasely followed by Granger and Potter. I looked over at them surprised that they of all people had walked in. Ron was the first one to recover from the surprise. "Sitting here with all your friends Malfoy?" He taunted.

I blushed in embarrassment against my will. "No." I croaked out after a minute. Ron laughed as he sat down across from me and motioned for his friends to do the same. I groaned to myself when I saw that. I had been hoping they would just leave so we could avoid an awkward situation but I guess Weasely wasn't feeling very kind towards me at the moment.

As Harry sat down I saw him start to glare at me with hate in his eyes. I knew he didn't like me because of all the crap I had given him over the years but this was new. He had never looked at me with this much malice before. "What." I said to him after looking back at him for a minute.

"You know bloody well what." He said. "I know what you were doing at the world cup. You were with those death eaters attacking all those innocent people weren't you!"

"NO!" I shot back at him angrily. "I didn't attack anybody at the cup!" Technically I suppose that wasn't actually true. I mean I had attacked those death eaters who had gotten too close to Potter as he was making his escape, but that was definitely different than attacking all those other people who were there.

That only seemed to make Potter and his friends angrier with me. "Don't lie Malfoy." Harry said. "Ron told me he saw you there. What else could you have been doing except getting ready for the attack?"

"Did it ever occur to you that I might have only been there to watch the cup?" I snapped back at him. I was bursting to shout at him that I had in fact probably saved his life several times during the attack. I held it in though, knowing he would never believe it even if I told him, and it could be very dangerous to me if the wrong people overheard me saying that.

"Do you think we're stupid Malfoy?" Hermione said. She clearly believed Harry was right in accusing me of attacking people at the cup.

"I'm beginning to think you are!" I shouted at them. I rose from my seat in anger and just as I did, the train lurched and began to move under me as our trip began. That made me lose my balance and I fell forward and fell on my face in front of Potter and his friends. They roared with laughter at me when I did my face plant. Despite their laughter and their jeers, I picked myself up with what little dignity I had left and strode out of the room, slamming the door behind me to shut out their laughter.

I made my way down the hall of the train still angry at Potter's accusations. I was still fuming when I turned a corner and literally bumped into Crabbe. I stepped back a little and looked at him and Goyle standing in front of me. "Draco!" Crabbe said. "We've been looking for you. Come on let's find a compartment." He took me by the arm and dragged me off into the train before I could say a word back to him.

After a moment, he had found an empty compartment and the three of us were inside. Crabbe threw me down onto one of the seats and the two of them sat down across from me and looked at me eagerly. Almost hungrily.

"What!" I demanded from them, still in my bad mood.

"What do you think?" Goyle said. He looked toward the door to make sure no one was listening and then leaned forward and whispered, "Tell us about the cup. We know you were there. What was it like?"

I sighed. I was not in the mood to even talk to these two, much less talk to them about the cup. I knew I didn't have much of a choice though, they were expecting a great story from me about how I had terrorized the innocent people at the world cup. So I sighed again and quickly made up a story. "Oh, I wished you could have been there," I started. "It was amazing. The death eaters and I were ruthless. We attacked ministry wizards, women, children and everything in between." They leaned forward and began listening intently as I lied through my teeth to them.

I sat back in my seat and tried to look smug and pleased with myself when in reality all I was feeling was disdain for Crabbe and Goyle for looking up to someone they thought had tried to kill several people at the world cup.

While Crabbe and Goyle admired me I glanced out the window just to see something besides those faces I was starting to really dislike. Outside the window I could see the village right next to Hogwarts, Hogsmeade. "Hey look," I said. "We're almost at Hogwarts. We should change into our school For the next few hours, I kept them captivated and enthralled with made up tales of how I had personally defeated several Aurors from the ministry and how I had gone on to terrorize a women and children as they were trying to make their escape, and for the next few hours, Crabbe and Goyle ate it up and looked at me reverently. "Wow Draco," Goyle said, looking at me wide eyed. "That's some of the most amazing crap I've ever heard. I wish I could have been there just to watch you in action."

robes."

Crabbe looked out at the village too, and he groaned. "Another year in this dump of a castle," He said. "I can't think of anywhere worse to spend my time. Don't you wish the Dark Lord would just hurry up and take us out of this place and make us full time death eaters for him Draco?"

Normally I was much more enthusiastic than Crabbe and Goyle about coming to Hogwarts each year. Mostly because it meant I could spend a long time away from my father. This year though, I almost agreed with him. I couldn't think of anywhere worse to spend my time either. With my orders from the Dark Lord hanging over my head, there was no possible way I would be able to enjoy being away from my father. I wouldn't be able to think about anything other than how the Dark Lord would murder me for failing him. Each time I thought about it, my mind concocted a heinous way for Voldemort to do away with me. Each way was even more frightening than the last.

A moment later the three of us were dressed in our school robes and ready to get off the train and ride up to Hogwarts. We patiently waited in our compartment a while longer looking out the window as the castle grew bigger and bigger in front of us. At last, the train arrived in the train station just a short way from Hogwarts and slowly ground its way to a halt. "Let's go." I said to Crabbe and Goyle. We stepped out of the compartment and made our way toward the front of the train along with the sea of other students. Some looked eager to start their new semester, but most looked depressed to be going back to a world of tests, essays and homework.

As I stepped off the train and began to make my way over to the thestral drawn carriages that would take most of the students up to the castle, I looked over at the students beside me who were speaking loudly about how much they despised their professors for giving them tests and essays. I snarled at them in jealousy. Right now I would have given just about anything to have my biggest worry be tests and essays and grades. If I could have traded my set of problems with any other students, I'd happily do so in a heartbeat, I thought as I climbed into one of the cramped carriages that would take me up to the school. Crabbe and Goyle climbed in beside me as they always did, and some of the complaining students climbed in after them without bothering to look to see who was already inside the carriage.

As soon as the students climbed in and looked across them to see who they had chanced to sit in the same carriage as, their faces turned a shade or two whiter and their conversation died instantly. Goyle, the big oaf that he was immediately saw that they were afraid of us and leaned forward wearing a big mean grin on his face. "Well, Well, Well," He said. "It looks like we've got some company on our trip up to our God forsaken school." It was clear to everyone he was about to torture them with hateful comments about anything he could think of. Crabbe leaned forward as well looking eager to lay into these poor students who had climbed into our carriage.

Before either of them could get a word out toward any of the students who had gotten in our carriage, I drove an elbow roughly into Goyle's gut and at the same time, brought my foot down roughly on top of Crabbe's toes. They both stifled yelps of pain and looked over at me clearly shocked. I gave them both dirty looks and scolded them with only my eyes for trying to make our fellow students miserable. I shook my head at them to tell them they were not to say a word. If there's one positive thing I could say about Crabbe and Goyle, it's that they are as obedient as any other people in the world. As soon as they got the message not to talk, they sat back and remained silent for the entire carriage ride.

The carriage we were sitting in lurched forward and started up the road towards Hogwarts. As we moved along the road, the students I had saved from Crabbe and Goyle's cruel words looked at me with a strange mixture of thankfulness and fear as though they were appreciative for what I had done to Crabbe and Goyle but were still afraid I might decide to go back on my kindness at any moment. I looked back at them trying my best to look friendly without alerting Crabbe and Goyle as to what I was doing. I already had more than enough people who hated and feared me at Hogwarts and I didn't intend to make any more of them. Especially if this was to be my last semester alive. If I was to die I wanted at least a few people who would mourn me at least a little bit, and God knows I didn't have anyone in my life like that right now.

While I was still awkwardly looking over at the students across from me, trying to seem friendly, the carriage stopped suddenly and Hagrid's booming voice rang out among the carriages. "Get out of yer carriages everyone," he shouted. "You've reached the castle." My carriages mates and I stood up and climbed out of the carriage. Then we joined the crowd of students forming near the front gate of the castle.

When I stepped onto the ground someone snickered behind me. "Be careful Malfoy," a voice said. "You wouldn't want to fall flat on your face again in front of everyone would you?" I turned and saw Ron Weasely again flanked by his two friends. At Ron's comment, all three of them laughed at me. I couldn't think of any witty comeback for him at the moment, so I just stood there and tried not to look too embarrassed as the three of them laughed at my expense. I could tell Ron was going to speak again, but luckily for me I was spared any further humiliation when Hagrid spoke first.

"Right then," Hagrid said. "This way now, come along." He climbed the steps in front of the huge front doors to the castle and reached into one of the many pockets on his coat. After a moment of fumbling, he produced a key and slid it into the door. The door flew open in front of us and Hagrid, followed by the mass of students behind him, filed into the school.

As soon as we stepped foot inside, the paintings lining the walls took notice of us and began raining welcoming statements down at us. "Welcome back to Hogwarts," one said. "I'm sure this year will be better than all the rest," said another. "I can't wait to get to know you all on a more personal basis," a third one said.

Despite my feelings of dread at returning to Hogwarts with such a horrible task to perform this year, I couldn't help but smile up at the paintings above me. Over the past few years I had come of think of them as old friends. Most of them had never said a single mean thing to me despite the mean things my cronies and I often said about others. Occasionally, some had even been nice enough to lend me a listening ear when I needed advice about whatever problem I was having at the time.

I smiled and nodded at the paintings which greeted me warmly all the way through the castle until we all reached the great hall. Hagrid opened the massive doors for us and held them open as we all walked past him into the hall and chose a seat for ourselves at our houses table. Potter and his friends stopped at the door beside Hagrid and exchanged a few friendly words with him. I watched them from my seat at the Slytherin table wishing I had someone I could just exchange a few friendly words with without having to worry about saying the wrong thing. But no, all I had was Crabbe and Goyle. The two big oafs sat down beside me and right away they launched into a conversation about what they were going to eat at the start of term feast we were about to have.

A few minutes later, Potter and his friends had finished saying hello to Hagrid and had made their way over to the gryphindoor table. The door at the front of the great hall opened after we had all taken our seats as it did every year, and in came the first years, led by Professor McGonagall. The whole lot of them looked as nervous as could be. Dumbledore stood up at the front of the great hall and smiled down at the first years as he launched into his standard welcome to Hogwarts speech that he gave every year.

I zoned out for a few minutes as Dumbledore explained some of the school rules to the first years, and explained to them that they were about to be sorted into one of the four Hogwarts houses by the sorting hat. After his speech was done, Professor McGonagall produced the sorting hat from somewhere inside her robes and called out the name of each individual first year student. Me and the rest of the students watched as one by one the first years went up in front of the great hall and had the sorting hat put on them.

I clapped along with the rest of my house whenever some first year got sorted into Slytherin, but I did it without much enthusiasm. Personally I didn't really care all that much which house all the first years got put into. I was far too busy looking forward to the start of term feast we would be having in a moment. The feast seemed all the more sweet of a prospect to me because I knew it may very well be the last one I had in this castle.

Finally, It was the last first year student's turn to be sorted. He sat on the stool in front of the great hall and Professor McGonagall placed the sorting hat on his head. "Ravenclaw!" The hat shouted. Cheers came from the Ravenclaw table as they welcomed their newest member into their midst. With all the first years sorted, my taste buds began to quiver in excitement.

Professor Dumbledore stood up again. "Before we begin this year's start of term feast, I have an important announcement to make to all of you," He said. I groaned at this unexpected delay of the feast. "Due to the huge success of the Triwizard tournament last year, the Ministry of Magic has decided to hold the tournament again this year." Murmurs of excitement began to go through the crowd of students when they heard that. Many of them it seemed were excited about the prospect of possibly entering the tournament and winning the ten thousand galleons that the winner received.

"This year however the entry system will work a bit differently." Dumbledore continued. "Entries will no longer be restricted to only students. This year, anyone in the wizarding world who is at or over the age of sixteen may enter the tournament. In exactly three weeks, three names will be drawn from the goblet of fire, which is currently at the ministry of magic, and those three people will be competing in the tournament. The competitor who wins the tournament will win the eternal glory that comes from winning the Triwizard tournament along with the ten thousand galleons that the winner of every Triwizard tournament receives. If any student here of sixteen years or older wishes to enter this tournament, all they must do is, sometime during the next three weeks, inform their house leader that they wish to compete, and their house leader will enter their name for them at the Ministry of Magic. Then, when the time to draw the names of those who will be competing, any student who entered the drawing will have a chance to be chosen to compete."

I looked across my table toward Potter. I remembered he had won the triwizard tournament last year. I wondered to myself if he would try to enter it again. I didn't think he would. Everyone knew that he already had more than enough money in his vault at Gringotts bank, so there was no real reason for him to enter. Plus he already had eternal glory. That scar on his forehead had given him plenty of that.

I turned back to my table and pushed the subject of the tournament out of my mind. I had no plans to enter so I suppose that announcement of Dumbledore's did not apply to me.

Once the conversation in the great hall had died down, Dumbledore spoke again. "Now," he said. "Let the feast begin." He clapped his hands, and the house elves down in the kitchens cast a spell that caused every type of delicious food imaginable to appear on the tables in front of us. The students crowding the great hall cheered at the sight of all the food. They picked up the silverware that had been laid out in front of them and began to attack the food with forks and knives.

For what seemed like hours, I and everyone else around me helped themselves to the delicacies that had been laid out before us. When I felt full, I ate another plateful just for good measure. If this was going to be my last start of term feast, I was determined to make it a good one. Finally, I fell back onto my chair and clasped my stomach with my hands. I was more stuffed than I had ever been.

I looked around me and realized I had been one of the last students to finish eating. Almost everyone else around me was doing as I was doing, and leaning back in their chairs looking so full they could not fit another bite. For a few minutes we all just sat there digesting the food, but then Dumbledore stood up again. "Mmm," He said. "I don't know how they do it but somehow our house elves in the kitchen seem to become better cooks every year." He chuckled to himself. "Now, prefects if you would be so kind, please show your houses to your dormitories where they will be living this semester. Everyone's luggage should have been brought up to their rooms during the feast." He smiled down on us all as we made our way out of the great hall.

I looked up at Dumbledore guiltily. How was I supposed to have it in me to kill that nice old man this year? Sitting up there at the head of the great hall he looked to be the very picture of peacefulness. As I passed out of the great hall I cast one last look back at Dumbledore and decided that there was just no way I could do it. Even if I did possess the skill to defeat him in battle, there was no way I could ever have the heart to murder the peaceful, jolly old man.

I absentmindedly followed my prefect out of the great hall and along several hallways until we finally reached the basement of Hogwarts where the Slytherin common room and dormitories were. The prefect spoke the password to get into the common room to a painting on the wall, and the painting swung open for him and allowed us to go inside. I beheld the familiar common room again. I couldn't help but smile as I ran my hands over the soft silk of the couches next to the fireplace. I couldn't wait to get the chance to sit down in one of them by the fire and sip on something hot while I was at it.

I reluctantly pulled myself away from the couch when I saw my roommates, Crabbe and Goyle, going up the stairs leading out of the common room toward our dorm room. I followed them up the stairs and soon after found myself in my familiar dorm room. The suitcases I had brought along with me this year were sitting in a neat pile at the foot of my bed as Dumbledore said they would be.

I casually began to go through them. I took my clothes out of the suitcases and put them into the dresser that sat next to my bed. After about twenty minutes of unpacking, my suitcases were empty. I sighed in relief that it was done and I went over to my smaller suitcase to take out my diary and write about the day's events in it.

I opened up the small suitcase and dug around in it looking for the small book. After a couple minutes of this, I hadn't found it so I looked inside it for myself to see where it was. My breath caught in my throat at what I saw. There was no diary in the suitcase! I tried to suppress the panic that was rising up in me. No this can't be right, I thought, the diary has to be in here.

I dove into my suitcase again and tore the thing apart searching for my most prized possession. A few minutes later, when I had still found nothing, I admitted defeat. Those stupid house elves must have screwed up handling the luggage on the train and accidently given my diary to someone else! I don't think it's possible to hate something more than I hated house elves at that moment. Whoever they had accidently given my diary too would have more than enough power over me to ruin my life, even more than it already was, if they had a mind too.

For the first time in a long time, I went to bed without writing anything in my diary. I felt terrified at the thought that someone might be out there in the castle right now reading through my diary and finding out about everything I had wanted to keep secret in there. It was almost too much to bear.

I barely slept a wink that night, and when I did, my dreams were full of strangers passing my diary back and forth among each other reading it and pointing and laughing at me after they finished each entry.

End of chapter five.

Author's note: Hey again guys, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Be sure to drop me a review to let me know what you think. See you guys next update! Also, remember more reviews certainly motivate me to update quicker for u guys.


	6. Burying the Hatchet

**Author's Note**: Hey guys, sorry this chapter took a little longer than normal to write, I'll try to get chapter seven out quicker for you.

Chapter 6: Burying the Hatchet.

I awoke in a cold sweat this morning. My roommates Crabbe and Goyle were standing over me looking down at me with as much concern as their brutish faces would allow. "You alright Draco?" Crabbe asked. "You were flailing around all night in bed telling someone to stop reading."

I pulled myself up in the bed. My back made a peeling noise as it lost contact with the sheets. I looked back down on the bed to see an outline of sweat where my back had been. "Gross," I said. "Yeah I'm ok though." I tried to look confident and reassuring in front of the two of them but the events of last night came back to me quickly and made it tough to keep a straight face. "Why don't you guys go down to start on breakfast. I'll catch up with you later."

Their eyes widened at the mention of food. "Ok." Goyle said. Quick as that they were out of the dorm and headed for the Great Hall seeming to completely forget that I had been thrashing in my sleep earlier. I was glad to be alone in the room though. I went back over to my suitcase which I had left open the night before.

Surely my diary couldn't really be missing could it? That must have been only a bad dream. I scoured through my suitcase again looking through every nook and cranny trying to find someplace it could be that I had not checked the night before.

After a few minutes passed, I sighed in defeat. It hadn't been a dream I suppose. Someone out there really did wind up with my diary. I shuddered at the thought. Someone at this very moment could be reading about the fact that I had come to Hogwarts this term with orders to murder it's headmaster and Harry Potter. I wracked my brain trying to think of something, anything, I could do about it but I kept coming up empty. Finally, I resolved that, for the moment at least, there was nothing I could do about it.

I walked over to the dresser and pulled out my robes for the day. My back was still sweaty and it took a bit of effort to get the robe to go down over my back. After a minute, it was done and I left the dorm room. Walking through the common room, I overheard several conversations.

"You going to enter the Triwizard Tournament this year mate?" A seventh year that I didn't know said to his friend. "I was thinking about putting my name into the goblet myself."

"No way man," The seventh year's friend said. "With my luck I'd get roasted by a dragon five minutes into the first task."

"Well they're gonna have brand new tasks this year numbskull. I bet dragons won't even be involved this year. Plus, think about all the gold and glory up for grabs in the tournament." The seventh year said.

"And how do you plan to spend that gold if you go and get yourself killed?"

I smiled. Even with everything going on in my life I couldn't help but feel at least a little bit happy being back at Hogwarts. After all, it was one of the only places I'd ever felt at least reasonably happy.

A rumbling in my stomach reminded me that I was supposed to be heading to the great hall. I pushed the door to the common room open and walked among the familiar halls of Hogwarts. Some of the portraits even said hello to me. Other students were walking down the halls with me.

"I can't believe Professor Flitwick gave us an essay on the very first day of school!" One student said to his friend.

"Yeah he's always been a bit of a hardass I think." The student's friend said.

I made my way to the great hall listening in on the conversations of students and portraits just revelling in the fact that I was back at Hogwarts. The doors to the great hall opened for me when I got near them and before me was the familiar ocean of students enjoying their first meal of the semester. Some of them turned to see who it was that had just walked in. When they saw me the path to the Slytherin table openedup right away. Every student had learned a while ago not to get in the way of Lucious Malfoy's son. I frowned at their reaction.

Then it hit me. One of these students had quite possibly been the one to wind up with my diary. A knot formed in my stomach and I looked around the great hall suspiciously. A girl was whispering something to her friend at the Ravenclaw table. Was she whispering about something I had wrote? Or was it something innocent? A boy at the Gryffindor table laughed loudly at something his friend had just said to him. A piece of the waffle he was eating fell out of his mouth. Was he laughing at me? A voice snapped me out of my suspicions.

"Draco," Crabbe said in his deep burly tone. "You've gone past us. Sit down numb nuts." I turned around to see Crabbe and Goyle a few seats behind me.

"Oh, Sorry," I muttered and slid down in the seat between them. In front of me was a plate of pancakes with syrup poured over them. As nervous as I was about the fact that someone in this room had probably read my diary, I felt my taste buds moisten. Apparently not even a missing diary could ruin my appetite. As mad as I may have been at the house elves for screwing up and misplacing my diary, I had to admit, they were great chefs.

"So I was thinking about pulling a prank on some first years," Crabbe said. "How about if we go to Snape and tell him a few of the first years told us they wanted to enter the Triwizard tournament. I'd pay good money to see the look on their faces if their names got chosen for the tourney." He laughed at his idea.

"Wouldn't work idiot," Goyle said. "You gotta be older than a first year to enter." Crabbe's laughing stopped abruptly and shot a glare at Crabbe for taking the wind out of his sails.

"Still would have been funny," Crabbe muttered under his breath.

"Ya know what we really ought to do though?" Goyle said. "I think we could get rich off that tournament. The winner gets ten thousand galleons. Just think what we could do with that! I bet ten thousand galleons would be enough to bribe a ton of people at the ministry into helping out the Dark Lord's cause. That'd put us in his good graces for sure. I bet even-"

His words were cut off by a slap to the back of his head. "Maybe you should be a little quieter when you talk about stuff like that dumbass!" I said in a furious whisper. I looked around our spot at the table to see if anyone had been paying attention to our conversation.

We seemed to have gotten lucky. Everyone around us seemed too preoccupied catching up with their friends to pay attention to anyone else. I breathed a sigh of relief. Lord knows I had to much on my plate already, I didn't need Goyle going and causing even more for me to worry about.

As I scanned the Great Hall, still looking for potential eavesdroppers, my eyes landed on Dumbledore sitting up at the head of the hall. He was laughing merrily at a joke Professor Hagrid seemed to have just told him. Then he took a sip from the goblet in front of him, and a thought sprung into my head uninvited. What if a drop of poison had been slipped into that goblet somehow? That would solve some of my problems with the Dark Lord wouldn't it?

I caught myself thinking such things and immediately gave my head a quick and violent shake. I wanted to slap myself right across the face. I didn't even know I was capable of such thoughts. How could I be thinking of doing that? Such thoughts were beneath me. I wasn't my father. I couldn't kill people without thinking twice about it, and I counted that as a blessing even though I'm sure my father and his Lord would beg to differ on that point.

Now thoroughly ashamed of myself, I put my head down and shovelled back some pancakes, eager to think of anything but Dumbledore or my father. Crabbe and Goyle were happily chatting away again about how they were going to win the triwizard tournament but right now I was beyond caring about that.

When my plate was empty, I stood up and strode towards the doors. I had my first class of the semester soon with Professor Flitwick. I hoped he wouldn't assign me the essay that I heard that other student talking about earlier.

Crabbe and Goyle stood up with me and the sea of students before us parted again like it had when I came in. I groaned again to be reminded that everyone was a bit afraid of me, but Crabbe and Goyle seemed to revel in it. They made motions with theirs fists as if they were going to punch some of the smaller students we passed and laughed when the students flinched and recoiled. I frowned at them but they didn't seem to notice.

Some students were staring at me again. Some with fear and others just with dislike. I found myself wondering again who, if any of them, had been the one to read my diary. The thought filled me with dread again. I felt naked, exposed in front of all these people knowing that they may have seen my inner-most thoughts. The thought made me quicken my pace as I was eager to get away from all these eyes.

The doors to the Great Hall opened for me again as I walked out. The hall before me now was thankfully empty, and not even the portraits seemed to interested in saying much to me.

We made our way down the hall and the throng of students behind us began to shrink. Professor Flitwick's classroom was not far from the Great Hall, and before long we were taking our seats for class. Professor Flitwick emerged from his office behind the classroom and bid his class hello.

"Hope you're all ready for another term with me," Flitwick said with a smile. "As you all know you're in your fifth year now and that means that at the end of the term you'll be taking your O.W.L. exams to determine which classes you'll be able to take in your sixth and seventh years and what careers you'll be able to go into after you leave school. So needless to say its vitally important you learn well this semester."

That caused a stir of whispers throughout the room. Some of us seemed to have forgotten about our O.W.L. exams. I had to admit, with everything that had been going on in my life, the exams had completely skipped my mind as well.

Crabbe made a quiet exasperated noise beside me. "Can you believe this jerk? He said. "It won't matter how well we do on our exams once we become death..." His words were silenced by a sharp elbow to the gut from me. Just as I did for Goyle earlier, I had to stop him from running his mouth about his plans to become a Death Eater. I gave him a glare and shook my head a bit. He got the message and put his head down and started massaging the spot where I had hit him.

"Settle down, settle down." Flitwick said. "As long as you all pay attention this year your O.W.L. exams shouldn't give you too much trouble and you'll be able to pursue the career path you want."

"Now then," Flitwick continued. "Let's get started shall we. We have a lot to learn this year to get you all ready for the exams."

Flitwick launched into a lecture about various charms he claimed would appear on our O.W.L. exams. Crabbe and Goyle leaned back in their chairs on either side of me and put their heads back, relaxing. Not bothering to even pretend they were paying attention. I on the other hand, leaned forward with a quill and some good parchment to take some notes on. I wasn't particularly interested in charm magic but I welcomed the chance to lose myself in Flitwick's lecture as it gave me another chance to take my mind off my problems.

The end of the lecture came as a surprise to me. "That's all the time we have for today," Flitwick said. "I hope you all took good notes. I'll see you again tomorrow."

Wow was the class really over that fast? I looked up at the clock to see that it was. _Time really does fly when your focused on something_ I supposed.

My other classes passed similarly fast. I allowed myself to be absorbed into the lectures I heard. Some of them were actually pretty interesting I found out.

Soon though, it was time to go back to the dorm, and there was nothing else to keep my mind off my missing diary. I walked over to my bed and threw my stuff down on top of it. I was sitting down beside my stuff when I noticed the parchment at the foot of the bed. Two pieces of parchment were rolled up waiting to be read. They must have come for me last night, or maybe while I was in class.

Curious, I picked up one of them and unrolled it. I was happy that someone had apparently taken the time to write to me. I groaned when I recognized my father's handwriting.

_Draco,_ it read.

_The Dark Lord and I will be expecting regular progress reports on the progress you've made in your plans to kill Dumbledore and Potter. As our only servant inside Hogwarts, we're counting on you to eliminate the both of them so we can destroy the Order of the Phoenix. Once they are out of the way, the Ministry of Magic will fall next._

I sighed again. Couldn't he have at least given me a few days without talking to me about this? I guess that would be asking for too much. I supposed I'd have to make up some story about how I was looking into ways to curse or poison them or something stupid like that. Just something to mollify them so maybe I could delay them finding out I really had no idea how to fulfill their orders, or really much desire to do so anyway.

I couldn't help but notice he didn't sign it either. No doubt he just didn't want something that could incriminate him as being involved with Lord Voldemort. My father may have some pull at the Ministry, but that note falling into the wrong hands could have put my father in serious trouble if he put his name on it.

I set the note from my father down and looked toward the second one hoping it would deliver some good news for a change. I was in pretty dire need of that right about now. I didn't recognize the handwriting on this note.

_Malfoy,_ this one said.

_I have something you might be interested in having back. I don't know how it happened, but I wound up with your diary along with the rest of my stuff, and I have to say, there were some pretty interesting things to be seen in there. Sorry about reading, but my curiosity got the better of me. Anyway, meet me in the fifth floor bathroom tonight around ten. We can expect some privacy in there I think, and we'll need it cause I think we have some things to talk about._

The note was not signed. My heartbeat had been rising more and more the more of that note I read and now it had reached the point that I'd be surprised if the whole castle couldn't hear it.

I sat down on the bed feeling as though I may vomit. Someone had read my diary and they knew things about me I had never intended for anyone but me to know.

It took me a minute to realize it, but it could very well be even worse than that. It wasn't just my personal life at risk now. If someone had read about my involvement with death eaters I was headed for serious legal trouble, and maybe even a trip to Azkaban. I was fairly certain the ministry wouldn't stop to consider the fact that my involvement was reluctant. Of course, going to Azkaban was assuming that I survived long enough to be sent there. If some of the things I had written became public knowledge somehow, it was entirely possible that the Dark Lord would ensure I didn't live long enough to be put on trial by the Ministry of Magic.

I was trying not to hyperventilate thinking about my possible future, when the door to my dorm opened and in walked Crabbe and Goyle. "Merlin's beard," Goyle said, sounding exasperated over something. "I can't believe they let such boring blokes teach at this dog house of a school. It'll be a wonder if I can stay awake through the O.W.L. exams much less pass them."

Hastily, I tried to pull myself together. I couldn't afford to let Crabbe and Goyle see me in such a state. I hid the note about someone having my diary in my pocket.

"Hey at least this year isn't going to be totally boring," Crabbe said. "Since they brought the Triwizard Tourament back I think we can expect to see at least a few people have their guts spilled before the term ends."

Goyle's mood seemed to brighten up instantly at that thought. He chuckled. "Yeah," he said. "I can't wait to see what they came up with for the three tasks this year. Let's hope for a good old fashioned blood bath."

"Hey what do you think they'd do if all the contestants died before all three tasks were finished?" Crabbe asked.

"Dunno," Goyle said, and plopped himself down on the bed next to me. "I suppose they'd just have to-" He paused. Something had made a ruffling sound when he sat down. He stood up and looked where he had sat to see the note from my father sitting on the bed. My heart skipped a beat. In my hurry to hide the second note, I must have forgotten to hide the one from my father.

"Hey what's this?" Goyle asked, and he picked it up before I regained my voice. He unfolded it and his eyes began to move across the page. His eyes widened after a second and he dropped the note, evidently in shock. He turned toward me with an expression of awe and wonder on his face.

"Malfoy," he gasped.

"What's the big deal?" Crabbe demanded as he grabbed the note off the floor to read for himself. There was no point in trying to stop him now. Goyle already knew. After a minute Crabbe was looking at me with the same expression on Goyle's face.

"Wow Malfoy," Goyle said. "I knew you were on the fast track to becoming the Dark Lord's go to guy, but this?! This is incredible! He must trust you so much already to give you such a big task! How'd you work your way into getting saddled with this mission?!"

"Yeah, tell us!" Crabbe added. "And how are you gonna do them in? Dumbledore and Potter I mean. Do you know how to use the killing curse? Are you brewing a poison? Or setting up some sort of horribly unfortunate accident for them to have?"

Well what was I supposed to do now? I knew one thing that had to be done though. "Guys," I said in a hushed tone. "_No one_ finds out about this got it? If they do my cover will be blown." As if I really cared about my cover being blown. I just didn't want them to go blabbing all over the school about how I was on some secret mission. "_No one_." I repeated. "Understand?"

They nodded. "No one." They said. "But tell us. How are you gonna do it. We'll keep the secret we swear."

Well there was no point in lying about this. "I don't know yet. I havn't figured it out." I conveniently left out the fact that even if I knew of a way to kill them both off, I'd probably disregard it anyway.

"Can I help?" Goyle asked. "I've always wanted to watch that idiot Potter squirm. I wouldn't get in the way I promise."

"Me too!" Crabbe exclaimed.

"No." I said firmly. They looked crestfallen. "Look the Dark Lord assigned this to me and trust me, its better to just do what he says sometimes. I saw him kill a man just because he was mad after the Quidditch World Cup was over so trust me its best to keep him pleased and follow his orders to the letter." Now they seemed mollified but still disappointed.

"Come on," Crabe said. "the Dark Lord wouldn't even have to know we were involved. we'd even let you take all the credit for it. Please?"

"NO!" I shouted this time. "That's final." They seemed hurt by my rejection but I was beyond caring about that. There was no way I'd ever let them think they had a chance to kill Potter or Dumbledore. The thought that the two of them might just be cruel and vicious enough to succeed at killing on or both of them was horrifying to me. "Now leave me alone," I continued. "I have some thinking to do."

They nodded quickly and hurried from the room to do as I had asked. It was almost funny in a way. I had a feeling that the two of them had just become my servants for the year. Knowing that I was sent to Hogwarts to kill Potter and Dumbledore had raised their opinion of me so much they'd probably do literally anything I asked of them now. Perhaps that would come in handy at some point.

I had not lied to them about having some serious thinking to do. I sat down on my bed again wondering whether or not those to brutes had the self-control to keep quiet about what they had just read, and more importantly, wondering who could have my diary and exactly how much they had read. I realized if they had only read some of the entries toward the beginning, the damage may not be so bad. Sure they would know some things about me I would have preferred to be secret, but they would not know I was here at Hogwarts with orders to kill it's headmaster and most famous student. If that was the case, at least I'd be safe from the Ministry of Magic.

I couldn't think about this right now, it was too nerve wracking. _Plus, _I thought to myself. _There's nothing I can do about it until ten o'clock tonight when I meet this person. _With that in mind, I pulled myself off the bed and over to the desk in the corner of the dorm. I pulled my Charms textbook out and tried to begin on the assigned homework from Professor Flitwick. At this point, I was willing to do anything, even homework, to try to get my mind to focus on something else. Anything else.

This worked well for a while. I lost myself in the questions I had to answer about charm magic, and when that was done, I moved onto Transfiguration. Halfway through my Transfiguration homework, Crabbe and Goyle came back into the room. "Hey," I said, annoyed. "I thought I told you to leave me alone for a while. I need to think."

The two of them shied away from me as though I might strike them down with a curse right now. I remembered the way they had scurried from the room earlier when I told them too and remembered, with some amusement, that they had probably become my own personal servants for the remainder of the term.

"B-but, we have left you alone for a while." Crabbe stammered. "It's been four hours since we left. We thought you'd be done by now."

"Wait," I said. "Four hours? What time is it!"

"Ten o'clock," Goyle said. "Why?"

"I have to go," I said, I sprang up from my chair. "I got someone to talk to about something and I'm already late."

Their faces lit up. "Is it about your orders from the Dark Lord? Can we come?"

"No you're not coming." I said. "What I said earlier still goes. Neither of you are helping me with this. I'm doing this and me alone. Don't interfere with it."

"But come on Malfoy," They said. "We can help you."

"I said no and I mean no!" I shouted. "I mean it. If i catch you two following me around tonight I'll hex you."

That seemed to shut them up. I supposed they didn't want to risk being attacked by someone Voldemort evidently trusted so much.

"Now I'm leaving," I said. "Remember not to follow me or else." I hurried out of the dorm trying to seem confident. That knot in my stomach was back, and worse than ever now. Thankfully, the common room outside the dorm was nearly empty. Everyone must have gone off to bed.

I stepped out into the hall to find that it too was just about empty. I ran down the hall in my hurry to reach the meeting point, hoping that whoever had written me the note wouldn't give up on me and leave before I got there. The portraits on the walls were yawning and seemed to be getting themselves ready for bed as well. Not me though. I had something more important to do. I ran up several flights of stairs to the fifth floor and navigated it's many twists and turns to the bathroom. I cursed the size of Hogwarts. It was taking me too long to reach the bathroom. At this rate the person might leave with my diary before I got there. All the while I kept an eye out for anyone who looked like they might be heading for the same place as they might be the one who wrote me the note. I never saw anyone though, leaving me in the dark still as to who I was meeting tonight.

I arrived at the door to the bathroom and pressed my ear to it before entering. Whoever had written me the note was probably already inside waiting. I didn't hear anything from the inside though. I pushed open the door and entered to find it empty. This couldn't be. I was certain this was where I was supposed to meet that person. I got on the floor and looked underneath the stalls to see if there were any feet inside any of them. Maybe they were inside a stall waiting for me. There were no feet though.

"Damn it." I said. I was certain I had taken to long to get here. Certain that whoever had my diary had gone back to their dorm with it. Were they going to read more of it? I was about to leave the bathroom myself when a voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Took you long enough to get here." The disembodied voice said.

Surprised, I blurted out, "Who's there?!"

The voice chuckled and right in front of me, Harry Potter took off his invisibility cloak. He set the cloak down on the ground in front of him and there he stood in the bathroom with me. I would have been focused on that invisibility cloak of his had I not caught a glimpse of something far more precious to me in his hand. I immediately recognized the black cover of my diary.

"You had it?!" I excailmed. This was awful. If he had read deep enough into my diary he'd know all about the Dark Lord's orders to me. It suddenly occurred to me that he may have invited me to this private place not to chat with me, but to make sure I'd never have a chance to hurt him or Dumbledore.

Certain that he was about to attack to try to defend himself, I fumbled for my wand and drew it out of my robes. To my surprise he didn't respond by drawing his own wand. Instead, he ignored my wand and studied me carefully for a moment. I decided that he wanted me to talk first.

"How much have you read?" I demanded. I tried to sound imposing and somewhat threatening, but my voice came out sounding more like a scared puppy than anything else.

"I read enough to learn a few things about you," Potter said. "Sorry for reading your diary by the way, but my curiosity got the better of me after a while. Hope you don't hold it against me too much."

Now I was angry. "You stupid git!" I shouted. "How would you feel if someone read what you never wrote done thinking it would never be read by anyone else! And as for not holding against you. HA! Don't make me laugh. I mean, didn't your parents ever teach you to respect anyone's privacy? Why did-" I stopped suddenly when I noticed that Potter's face had darkened considerably at the mention of his parents.

Now he seemed angry too. "You know as well as I do what happened to my parents." He said. He walked right up to me and poked me in the chest. "Don't you _DARE_ say a word against them!"

"Sorry," I said softly. My anger had gone out like a light. After all, who was I to be scolding Potter anyway? After all the crap I've done to him over the years to try to make him miserable in order to please my father, perhaps he should be the one yelling at me now. "I didn't mean it like that. I was only... I just meant that... I mean..."

"It doesn't matter," He interrupted and back away from me a few feet. "Look, before I came to meet you here I read up to the point in your diary where you were talking about what happened at the Quidditch World Cup."

I froze for a minute. Did he know I was involved with the Death Eaters that night? "And?" I asked him, trying to get him to continue.

"And, well," He said. "To be perfectly honest, I came down here tonight thinking I'd be getting just a bit of payback on you for all that stuff you've tried to pull on me and my friends over the years. But, if what I read is true, it turns out that me and my friends may owe you our lives."

I started to respond. To assure him that it was true, but he waved his hand at me when I opened my mouth. "I really want to find out what really happened with you the night of the cup, so on the way down here, I made a stop in Snape's potion stock and brought a little something. He pulled a small vial of potion out of his pocket. The liquid was perfectly clear.

"What's that?" I asked,

"Veritaserum." He said.

I gasped. "How'd you get that out of Snape's stock without him knowing?"

Potter laughed. "Well my invisibility cloak helped me out a lot there." He said, and gestured back to where the cloak was still laying on the floor behind him. "I brought it for you. Are you willing to drink it and let me ask you what really happened that night? It's the only way I'll know for sure."

I pondered this. What if he asked me if I had any orders from Voldemort? He would find out that I was sent to school this term with orders to kill him and Dumbledore. Yet if I didn't volunteer to take the potion and talk to him, he'd think I was lying about saving him for sure and what would he do then? Refuse to give me back my diary? Spread what I had written all over the school? I couldn't allow that to happen. _Plus,_ I thought. _As long as he only asks me about the Quidditch World Cup._ I'll be safe from questions about my current involvement with Voldemort. Plus, since I was only involved with Voldemort unwillingly, the Veritaserum would force me to say that. Maybe I could even get Potter to help me get out of my situation.

I had to admit though, I couldn't help but to feel a bit annoyed at him over this.

"Havn't you already done enjough to invade my privacy? Now you want to do this? What's wrong you don't trust me?"

"Well," Hary said. "No. I don't really trust you. Not yet anyway. Can you really blame me considering our past?"

I had to admit, that made sense. "All right," I said. "I'll do it. Give me the vial." He looked somewhat surprised I'd agreed to it, but he handed over the vial nevertheless. I popped the cork out of the vial's top and took a good look inside to make sure that it was indeed Veritaserum and not some kind of trick. A moment later I was satisfied that it was what Potter said it was. _Bottoms up_, I thought to myself, and drained the vial.

It might as well have been water considering how easily it slid down my throat. I didn't notice any changes to myself after I drank it. I gave the vial back to Potter and he checked to make sure I had actually drunk all of it. He nodded in approval and looked back at me.

"So, he said. "Tell me about what happened with you during the attack on the World Cup."

Right away, the potion seemed to take control of my mouth. "Before the attack I followed your friend Weasely back to your tent to learn where you were," I said. I hadn't even meant to say that. The potion seemed to be spilling the truth from my mouth with or without my approval. "And when the attack started," the potion continued. "I grabbed a broom and flew to where I knew you'd be. Whenever a Death Eater got too close to you, I stunned him from my broom to keep you and your gang safe. I did that all the way up until you escaped with a portkey."

After the potion was done answering for me, it seemed to give me control over my voice again. "Really?" Potter said. "And all that stuff before the Quidditch World Cup entry, about how your father treats you and how you want your life to be different and all that?"

The potion seemed to take control of my voice again. "Yes," the potion made me say. "All of it, my dad has always treated me like a burden. He also beats me a lot. Sometimes with magic, sometimes just physically. Sometimes I think he really wishes I'd just get out his way and he'd never have to see me again. And you have no idea how much I wish I could just swap lives with someone else. I want my life to be different more than anything."

Potter's face seemed to soften at the mention of how my father treats me. "You know," He said. "I didn't have a good father figure growing up either. I grew up with my Aunt and Uncle. They treated me like a burden too. They never beat me themselves, but my cousin did. I know how much being treated like that sucks." He sounded genuinely sympathetic to me. My heart leapt. Perhaps this wouldn't turn out nearly as bad as I was anticipating. Maybe I could even make my first real friend out of Potter. It was a long shot at best, but hey, it was possible.

Potter reached into his pocket again and pulled out another potion. "Here," He said. "The antidote for Veritaserum." I gulped the new potion down quickly and regained control of my voice as it counteracted the Veritaserum.

"I never knew that," I said. "About the way your Aunt and Uncle treated you." Perhaps me and Potter weren't so different after all. I didn't quite have the bravery to say that out loud, but I thought it.

"Yeah," Potter said. "And I never knew any of that stuff you wrote in your diary." We stood there awkwardly facing each other for a moment. Neither of us really knew where to go from here.

"Well, I'll tell you what." Potter said after a minute. "I'm willing to bury the hatchet with you right now if you want that."

"Bury the hatchet?" I asked.

Potter laughed. "It's a muggle expression. It means letting the past be the past and moving on with a fresh start."

I couldn't resist beaming at him. "You want to start over?" I asked. "Me and you? Friends?" It was better news than I had any right to hope for, and I doubted it could really be happening.

"We'll see about being friends." Potter said. "But I'm willing to give it a shot if you are." He took a step toward me and extended his hand.

This was a muggle expression I knew. He wanted me to shake his hand. I considered for a moment. What if this if this was his idea of some sort of trick? Would this backfire on me? _No,_ I thought to myself. _I think he's being genuine right now. Plus what do i have to lose? What's the worst that could happen? Is my life gonna get even tougher if I blow it with him?_ I laughed to myself at the notion that I could be in any rougher shape than I was right now.

I happily stepped forward and took his hand in mine. I moved it up and down as I had seen muggles do. "Thanks, Potter." I said. "You won't regret giving me this second chance."

Potter nodded. "I hope I won't. And by the way Malfoy, my name's Harry, not Potter." He smiled at me.

I smiled back. "And I'm Draco, not Malfoy."

"Well then Draco," He said, still smiling, "Why don't we start off this second chance right. How about you sit with me and my friends at breakfast tomorow?"

"Sound like a deal to me Pot- I mean, Harry."

"All right then," And Draco?"

"Yeah?"

"You can stop shaking my hand now."

"Oh sorry," I said, letting go of his hand. "I'm not used to shaking hands."

Harry laughed, "That's all right. I'll see you tomorow morning." He turned away from me and picked up his invisibility cloak. "Oh and uh, before I go," Harry said. "Heh, I can't believe Im doing this, but what the hell this nights already been crazy enough so why not. Thank you for saving mine and my friend's lives." He walked backup to me and wrapped his arms around me.

It was such a shocking and unfamiliar feeling to me that it took me a minute to realize he was hugging me. When I realized, I hugged him back. "Anytime," I said. "Right about now I'm glad I did."

"Well I should be off," Potter said, stepping away from me. "Here's your diary back." He handed me the diary and I eagerly snatched it up. He put his invisibility cloak over himself again and disappeared in front of me. The door to the bathroom opened a second later with no visible hand pulling on it. "I'll see you at breakfast tomorow Draco." Harry's disembodied voice said.

"See ya there." I said. The door shut and I heard Potter's footsteps walking down the hall, leaving me alone in the bathroom. When Potter's footsteps receded into the distance, I jumped for joy right there next to the bathroom stall. I ran out of the bathroom back toward the Slytherin common room continuing to let loose cries of joy as I went.

"Hey!" One of the portraits I passed shouted. "Us normal people up here are trying to sleep. Shutup!"

"Sorry," i said. I walked back to the common room quietly, but my mirth had not died down a bit. When I reached the door to the common room, I all but sang the password to open it.

I went back up to my dorm and was very thankful to find Crabbe and Goyle sound asleep already. I didn't want to field anymore questions from them. I went over to the desk next to my bed. "Lumos," I said. My wand lit up as I sat down in the desk and opened my diary up again. I took out a quill and began to write.

_Diary, _I wrote.

_Boy it feels good to be writing in this book again. A lot's happened since last time. It turns our that Harry Potter had my diary recently. He read from it, but I cant hold that against him now because it made him want to start over with me! He even invited me to breakfast with his friends tomorow! I suppose I'm a bit nervous about that, but I can't wait either. Oh, and my father also wrote to me saying he want's some sort of regular progress reports on how I'm going about killing Dumbledore and Potter. What a jackass. I suppose I'll just make something up to send to him. That doesn't even bother me right now though. Thanks to Harry, I'm in far to good a mood right now to let myself be sidetracked by my father. And yes, I said Harry. Not Potter. Harry. He gave me permission to call him by his first name. How cool is that!_

_ Till next time, Draco_

I opened up a drawer on my desk and tucked the diary safely inside it. I stood up and climbed into my bed.

I slept soundly that night for the first time in a long time, and for th efirst time in even longer, I went to bed truly happy.

**Author's Note**: Hey again guys. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Drop me a review and let me know what you thought of it and of the story as a whole. More reviewers motivates me to update quicker!


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